Amongst the Fields of Earth
by Shockeye7665
Summary: It is 1918 CE. The Rachni War is still ongoing. And the planet Earth, which is in the midst of it's first world war, is about to be drawn into a fight for it's own fate, and the fate of the galaxy itself. Rated M for violence, language and some sexual content.
1. Prologue Part 1

**Disclaimer: Mass Effect does not belong to me. It belongs to it's respective owner, namely Bioware.**

* * *

 **"** _ **The Milky Way Galaxy is in the midst of war against the Rachni, a species of highly intelligent, space-faring, hive-minded insects. Despite the uplifting of the Krogan, the first contact with the Turians, and the creation of the Geth, the Citadel Council has been locked in stalemate against the Rachni for centuries, with neither side able to break it. But that does not stop them trying, as each side attempts to break the deadlock**_ **".**

 _Rachni-occupied planet of Nevos, Teyolia System, Silean Nebula, Milky Way Galaxy_.  
 _9th April, 1917 CE_.

Looking at Nevos now, you never would have figured it to be a vibrant garden planet, due to the telltale signs of the Rachni occupation of the planet, which could be seen everywhere.

The lone Asari Commando, standing on the edge of the cliff, was looking through the heads-up display, down at a beach where a mass of Rachni Soldiers, with a couple of Brood Warriors here and there were all overseeing a vast mass of Rachni Workers moving to and from places.  
As she zoomed in her HUD to get a closer look, she could see that the Rachni Workers had burrowed a series of holes, those providing access to and from the surface for the Workers.

Their target. Perfect.

"Lieutenant, report".

Brought out of her observations, the Lieutenant checked her HUD, and noticed that she was joined up with six of her fellow sisters-in-arms.  
Facing Major Arvena Thanoptis, the Lieutenant made her report, "Major, it's our target. That much is certain. There's a lot more Workers here than there were at the last place".  
Huntress Marsselia Iellius piped in, "I better hope that this is the place. Because after those last four places we went to, I'm starting to think High Command sent us all on a wild gyurn'na chase".  
"You're such a downer, you know that Marsselia?"  
"Well, at least, I'm not an optimist, Chethra. Stopped becoming an optimist 98 years ago".  
Lieutenant Keilgara T'Listra groaned at that, for Marsselia was quite known for her 'stopped becoming an optimist' line throughout the unit.  
But as an eventual bickering contest between Marsselia and her 'best friend', Huntress Chethra T'Dorna, was about to start, a thankful voice cut in, in the form of Senior Huntress Ryilestra Vasir.

"Alright, lock it down, the both of you, before your little pissing contest brings those damn buggers on us".

With that settled, Major Thanoptis conferred with her second in command, Captain Peltyris T'Soni, for a good long while, until she called for all of them to gather round as she laid down a plan of action.

"Right, from what we can gather, there's around 27 Rachni Soldiers, with 9 Brood Warriors. We'll need to take the Brood Warriors out, one at a time, quick and quiet, before the buggers know we're here. Then, we lure their attention away while we get into the holes. Okay, sisters, you all know what to do. Lieutenant, take point".

* * *

 **"** _ **But, across the gulf of space, in a lonely solar system, unaware of the wider conflict waging across the Milky Way, the inhabitants of the third planet are going through their first world war**_ **".**

 _East of Arras, Pas-de-Calais region, Northern France, Europe, Earth, Sol System, Unknown Cluster, Milky Way Galaxy_.  
 _9th April, 1917 CE_.

It was nearing Zero-Hour, everyone could feel it as the distant rubble of the bombardments went on and it neared 5:30am.  
Private Albert Tillard, of the 2nd Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, could understand the apprehension, having experienced this the first time at the Somme last year and the subsequent battles that followed.

"FIX BAYONETS!"

As his fellow Ox and Bucks got out the Pattern 1907 sword bayonets from their scabbards, and attached them to the ends of their Short Magazine Lee-Enfield Mark III* rifles, Albert looked to his left, seeing Private Horace Roth, who finished reloading the last of the five round stripper clip into his rifle, which meant that his SMLE was fully loaded with 10 rounds. Horace must have noticed that he was being observed and turned to face Albert.  
"Alright, Albie?"  
"Yeah, yeah, you?"  
Nodding his head, Horace then silently went, "Let's get this done and over with".

"ONE PACE, FORWARD!"

As everyone moved closer to the wooden ladders, Albert looked to his right and saw Private Ronald Lampkin, who was looking at the top of the parapet with absolute nervousness, and his hands were gripping his SMLE so hard, that one might wonder if they were going to snap.  
Putting a hand on Ronald's shoulder, Albert went "Hey, Ronnie. Hey, hey", before saying "You're gonna be fine. Okay? Just stick with me and move forward, alright?"

A brief pause, and a nervous nod.

The sound of someone walking on duckboard, caught Albert's attention, as he turned his head around to the left.  
Looking further down the line, Albert could see as Lieutenant Edmund Haley-Blyth moved closer down to his position, and got out from his Service Dress breast pocket, the trench whistle.

"At the signal, company, will advance!"

With that, Albert knew that it was almost time, before Albert would hear the sounds that would tell him to go "over the top".

* * *

 _South-east of Vimy, Pas-de-Calais region, Northern France, Europe, Earth, Sol System, Unknown Cluster, Milky Way Galaxy.  
_ _9th April, 1917 CE_.

Amongst the sounds of artillery firing and mine charges going off, a one Sergeant Charles Boyd, of 4th Platoon, C Company, 10th Battalion (Canadians), was not envying the task set upon he and his men. And he was sure that his new platoon commander, Lieutenant Hugh Phillips (who had only been appointed to their platoon ever since a trench raid operation killed Lieutenant Cedric McGurn around 2 and a half weeks ago), wasn't either.

For his unit, who along of other units within the 1st Canadian Infantry Division, were responsible for the broad southern sector of the entire advance up to Vimy Ridge, and most of all, were expected to make the most advance, in terms of distance, to the Brown Line.  
But at least, he could appreciate that his men, whose boots were caked in mud, and their Service Dress uniforms not feeling the most warmest and snug against the cold chill in the air, were in good spirits, still capable of good-hearted humor amongst themselves.

But then, Boyd was instantly back to business when he could hear some people taking amongst themselves, and loudly said "CUT THE CHATTER, THE LOT OF YOU! NOW!"  
Immediately, all chatter stopped, and all that was heard, was the sounds of the artillery shells hitting the German lines.  
Turning to look at the Lieutenant, he saw Phillips holding the trench whistle in his leather gloves, and put in his mouth, soon nodding to Boyd, who nodded back.  
Then, Phillips blew into the whistle, and immediately, all over the trench, was the sounds of trench whistles, scrambling up the ladders and still, the sounds of the artillery commencing the creeping barrage.

Upon that signal, all the men climbed out of their trenches and went over the top, into No Man's Land, where survival was not guaranteed.  
And death sometimes would not even come from the bullets or the shellfire, but from the very ground itself, a fact that Boyd nervously reminded himself as his boots stepped into mud covered ground that squished underneaf his very feet as he left the ladder that he climbed.

Boyd then made sure to check that the men were keeping pace with the creeping barrage up ahead of them, as so to keep up with the set timetable, and still maintain a respectable distance so that shell fragments did not kill them.

However, despite this, the creeping barrage was still he and his men's best chance of reaching their first objective. The Black Line. Where the German forward defensive line lay in front of them.

 **"** _ **It was just another day in the blood-stained mud, of the trenches, men laying down their lives in a war that seemed to have no end whatsoever**_ **".  
**

* * *

 _Rachni-occupied planet of Nevos, Teyolia System, Silean Nebula, Milky Way Galaxy_.  
 _9th April, 1917 CE_.

"I repeat, the op is a bust, they were lying in wait for us. We only managed to get out. This time. Alright. Awaiting extraction at exfil point. Major Thanoptis out".

The Lieutenant couldn't really blame the Major, or her fellow sisters-in-arms for looking, or even feeling so dejected.

Whilst going down into the holes, deeper and deeper, they were inbound on a thermal source, that planetary probes had caught up, and Asari High Command sent the 147th Huntress Unit to investigate, and if possible, deploy a beacon to guide in an orbital strike if it was a Rachni target of interest.  
But however, when they eventually got there, the heat source was not a target of interest, but a trap.  
And before they could get out, the Rachni launched their assault, and the Asari Commandoes only managed to get out, and bury the holes, at the skin of their own teeth.  
Now, the 147th were making a speedy exfil to a clear landing site, before the Rachni came in and tore them apart.

As the 147th secured positions around their clear landing site, which they only found 2 minutes ago, after 7 minutes of trekking, the Lieutenant looked at the ground, and saw something shiny. Moving over to it, she grabbed it and pulled it close to her face to examine it.

And gasped as she saw, in her own hands, an emerald green shiny crystal.  
Turning it around to examine it, the Lieutenant could feel with her gloved fingers the edges and even the smooth surface of the crystal.  
It was so beautiful. More beautiful than anything she had ever seen since….

The Lieutenant paused, and tried very hard to remember when she had seen something as beautiful as the crystal she held in her hands. And it was seemingly in vain, as for all of her years as an Asari commando, fighting Rachni on various planets across the galaxy, even memories of her childhood before she became a commando were becoming hazy to her.

"Shuttle inbound!"  
Lieutenant Keilgara T'Listra, the Lieutenant's best friend and "sister-in-spirit", shouted out, as she spotted the shuttle making it's approach.  
And there it was, an Serrice Armaments Group UAST-37 dropship making a fast descent towards the landing zone, slowing down enough to allow everyone the chance to board, in which it opened it's side door and when it slowed down, all the Asari commandoes jumped in, including the Lieutenant, who sat down in one of the available seats, still clutching the crystal in her hand.

Then, remembering that she still had it, the Lieutenant took off her helmet to properly look at it, disengaging the seals of her helmet and after taking it off her head, put it on her lap, before examining the crystal further and trying to remember whenever she had seen something so beautiful.

As the shuttle's door shut, and the shuttle steadily got off the ground, leaving the planet behind in order to reach their vessel in orbit, a tear fell down Lieutenant Trileena Navuris' cheek, as she came to the realisation, that she didn't even remember a time when she had seen anything beautiful.

* * *

 **And now starts, my AU Rachni War Mass Effect story, set in World War One.  
** **I had originally planned for it to be instead, a AU Krogan Rebellion story, but I instead settled for a Rachni War story, for I reckoned a fanfic set during the Rachni War (even if it was a Rachni War that went on much longer) was much more interesting, as the Rachni or the Rachni War were rarely chosen stories in recent Mass Effect fanfics.  
** **Setting this story, in World War One, was a deviation from the usual "Mass Effect set in WW2" story that I think was done and tried, no matter how much I would like to tackle a "Mass Effect set in WW2" story, to be honest.  
** **However, a story that was an inspiration for Amongst The Fields of Earth, was DarkDanny's Uplift series, which is set in World War Two, which is a great read and I recommend that everyone check out.  
** **So, there you go.  
** **It'll be a while before the Rachni War comes to Earth, so bear with me. There are a couple of characters I want to introduce before I get around to that, so stay tuned.  
** **Anyways, don't forget to leave a review whenever you can and see you next time!**

 **Update (28/4/17): Just added a much more detailed line about Albert Tillard's unit, as it was a bit obscure on what exactly it was before, which was a bit bothering me, given that the only description about his unit was just simply, 'Ox and Bucks', the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry's nickname.  
Update (29/6/17): Done some restructuring of the chapter, spacing out some paragraphs, trying not to bunch them all up. Special thanks to Apollonir for pointing this out.**


	2. Prologue Part 2

**Disclaimer: Mass Effect does not belong to me. It belongs to it's respective owner, namely Bioware.**

* * *

 _The skies above Arras, Pas-de-Calais region, Northern France, Europe, Earth, Sol System, Unknown Cluster, Milky Way Galaxy_.  
 _14th April, 1917 CE_.

Lieutenant Jonathan Frampton looked briefly to his left, as he continued holding the stick of his Sopwith Pup, and saw his wingman, Lieutenant Edmund Owen Badley, flying close in his own Pup.

Adjusting the googles and the scarf on his face, with one of his gloved hands (the other still on the stick), John continued scanning the skies for the German Albatross fighters, which completely outclassed every fighter the Royal Flying Corps had.  
 _And to think that the Pup was the best fighter we had on the Western front till last year_ ….., John lamented.  
Sometimes, the New Zealander from the city of Nelson thought that it was even madness for Major General Trenchard to insist on having the Royal Flying Corps continue to adopt an offensive posture against Fritz, given the huge losses of men and machines to the Germans.  
 _But of course, this is a war, John, so you better get on with the task on hand, old chap_ …..

But then as he concluded this thought, and his ears strained against the noise of the winds and the roar of the nine-cylinder, air-cooled rotary engine in the front of his Pup, John could swear that he could hear an aircraft noise from a certain distance away.  
Noting that Badley was on his right and close by, hence ruling him out, John began scanning the skies, squinting his eyes though his flying goggles, trying to spot the source of that far away noise.

And then, he spotted it.

Coming right at him, slightly to his left, was an Albatross fighter, it's main fuselage, and wings, coloured in black and white, adorned with the Cross pattée.  
And it was slightly banking to the left, and descending.

John took that as a sign that it was moving to engage him and Badley, so he looked over to his wingman and started quickly performing hand signals to communicate to Badley his intent on engaging the enemy. His wingman, nodded his head, indicating his understanding that John was going to engage, and that he would stay on his wing.  
As John manoeuvred to get into position, Badley maintained position to John's right, and soon John lined up the gunsights of his single synchronized Vickers machine gun, and pulled the trigger.  
The .303 rounds fired, the Sopwith-Kauper synchronizer working perfectly, and flew right through the air, but found that they only clipped the right wing of the Albatross.  
 _Oh, what a rotten bit of luck_ , thought John.

Badley also opened fire, hoping for some better luck. However, the Bosch flyer was now fully aware that he was under attack, and thus began manoeuvring his Albatross.

Time then all became a blur to John, as he subconsciously began manoeuvring himself to defend against the Albatross, even though his Pup was quite obsolete, and couldn't really stand much of a fighting chance. The only hope John really had, was that he wasn't alone, and had Badley as his wingman, against the lone German.

He just hoped that it'd be enough.

But then, John was brought out of his musing, when he then saw that Badley managed to gain more hits on the Albatross, by hitting the fuselage,  
However, he found himself under attack from two more Albatrosses, who had just arrived.

And before long, Badley was attempting to climb up, but having two Albatrosses on his tail meant that there was nothing that John could do, not that he didn't try, for as John attempted to get his wingman out of bother, he soon spotted a smoke trail coming out of Badley's Pup, which meant that the Albatrosses' twin 7.92mm machine guns had managed to score hits around the engine.

John became so intent, on saving his wingman from those two, that he was unaware of the third Albatross, that had strafed him from seemingly nowhere, and landed rounds all over his Pup, including John himself.

The rounds had hit his legs, his abdomen and his right hand, causing him to lose an absurd amount of blood, which started spraying all over the place.

Slipping in and out of consciousness, and in agonising pain, John registered that his engine was now ablaze, and spreading all over his aircraft. Rather quickly.  
The last thing that John remembered, were the flames swarming all over his body, as his Pup was engulfed in fire, plummeting towards the ground.

Thankfully, his world went black, before he hit the ground in a ball of flame.

* * *

 _Arras, Pas-de-Calais region, Northern France, Europe, Earth, Sol System, Unknown Cluster, Milky Way Galaxy_.  
 _14th April, 1917 CE_.

"And you're certain of this, sir?"  
Lieutenant William Randolph Herbert Badley, stood in front of his commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel R. J. P. Anderson of the 11th (Prince Albert's Own) Hussars, and an Captain from the Royal Flying Corps, who was the commander of B Flight, No. 54 Squadron, the same flight and squadron that the now-deceased Lieutenant Edmund Owen Badley belonged to.

Displaying his sympathies, just shifting awkwardly, the Captain responded to William's query, "I'm afraid so, Leftenant. Your brother, and his wingman crashed near our frontlines, allowing our lads to recover whatever they could. Your brother's wingman, they were able to recover, but your brother, erm, well, let's just say that there wasn't much left to recover. But that's what happens after your plane explodes upon crashing".  
The Captain probably was trying to offer some comfort to William, but his words just made it seem like someone dying in a fiery plane crash was like, ' _Oh, well, can't be helped, old chap, can't be helped_ '.

Gently taking a seat, William stared blankly at the thought of his brother not being present in the world.

The Captain offered his sympathies by saying that Edmund Badley was a fine pilot, a fine man and that they'd miss him deeply.

Still staring blankly, William asked to be left alone.  
The Captain nodded, while the Lieutenant Colonel wordlessly escorted the Captain to see him off, leaving William on his own, as he dealt with the news of his brother's death.

He could never imagine it. His younger brother gone.  
His younger brother, whom he shared a close bond with, always looking out for him, always playing with him in the gardens of their country home of Badley Hall in Worcestershire, and joining in playing pranks on the housestaff (much to the consternation of mother and father when they were younger, but relieved when they grew out of that).

It hadn't been until the war started, when Edmund, like everyone at the start of the war, was eager to 'do his bit for King and Country', and had done so by following William into joining the army, becoming part of the 2nd Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment, until he seconded to the Royal Flying Corps about a year ago as an observer, before becoming a pilot.  
William was no stranger to loss, for he had close friends who had died on the 1st of July at the Somme the previous year, friends whom he had known for years before the war, but Edmund's death hit him hard, not just because he had lost a brother, but the fact that, probably to some official stuck in a desk in the War Office, Edmund Owen Badley was now a mere name on the huge list of casualties of this war, a war that just seemed to have no wish to stop.  
The Captain's attitude in relaying the news to William, did not help in this regard.

Pretty soon, William expected that Badley Hall would be getting a telegram regarding the death of Edmund any time now, before he then came to the realisation, _Oh god, what are mother and father probably thinking right now_?

Then suddenly, William noticed a stray tear running down his check, and hurriedly got a tissue to wipe it, before trying to compose himself and pull himself together.

Straightening himself up, William wanted to prove that he was still up for duty, by putting his brother's death aside for the moment at hand.

But looking out at the ruins of Arras, William had one thought lingering in his mind, _Just, how many more must this war take, before this will all end?_

* * *

 **With this chapter, it's mostly an introduction of a character who'll be prominent later, Lieutenant William Randolph Herbert Badley. And with him being in the cavalry, this means that the cavalry will be making an appearance later.**

 **The cavalry was one aspect of World War One that I wanted to explore. Despite popular opinion being that cavalry having had their day in the mobile stages of the war in 1914 and never mounting their horses again, this is actually not the case.**

 **Throughout the war, the cavalry still found use in various areas of the war.**

 **For example, d** **uring the Battle of Arras, the Household Cavalry (consisted of the Life Guards and the Blues, accompanied by the 10th Hussars) made their last charge, on a diversionary attack on the Hindenburg Line, which resulted in their slaughter from barbed wire defences and heavy machine gun fire.**

 **During the Battle of Cambrai in 1917, a charge by the 5th (Mhow) Cavalry Brigade of the 1st Indian Cavalry Division ended successfully, even though the position was defended by barbed wire and machine guns, thus this successful charge was an unusual occurrence during the war.**

 **During the German Spring Offensive of March 1918, cavalry took to their horses to stop the German advance, including one instance, during the Battle of Moreuil Wood, which the Canadian Cavalry Brigade attacked the 23rd Saxon Division on the banks of the Avre River, forcing them to withdraw to Moreuil Wood, where the commander of C Squadron, Lord Strathcona's Horse, Lieutenant Gordon Flowerdew, would later earn the Victoria Cross, and his charge be depicted in a painting by Alfred Munnings, known as _Charge of Flowerdew's Squadron_.**

 **Then, British cavalry had their most successful day throughout the duration of the war, at the Battle of Amiens, and success continued throughout the** **Hundred Days Offensive.**

 **In the Sinai and Palestine Campaign, of the Middle Eastern theatre, the ANZAC Mounted Division, supported by the Imperial Camel Brigade attacked an Ottoman Army garrison at Magdhaba, continuing to find success in battles that included, Beersheba and Megiddo.**

 **Anyways, don't forget to leave a review whenever you can, and see you next time!**

 **Update (12/5/17): Made a mistake in regards to Lieutenant Badley's cavalry regiment, which I had mistakenly identified as being the 11th (Prince of Wales' Own) Hussars, but was actually, the 11th (Prince Albert's Own) Hussars.  
Update (29/6/17): Did a restructuring of the chapter, trying to make the paragraphs not all bunched up. ****Special thanks to Apollonir for pointing this out.** **Also, added additional lines in regards to William being informed of Edmund's death.**


	3. Prologue Part 3

**Disclaimer: Mass Effect does not belong to me. It belongs to it's respective owner, namely Bioware.**

* * *

 _Chemin des Dames, France, Europe, Earth, Sol System, Unknown Cluster, Milky Way Galaxy_.  
 _16 April, 1917 CE_.

Sheltering within the bunker, as their positions were being battered by the relentless onslaught of French artillery shells, Infanterist Johannes Kollmann looked around, seeing the faces of his kameraden, who were either trying their utmost to keep their spirits up.

As the dust fell down from the roof over their heads and onto their uniforms each time a shell shook the ground around it after impact, Johannes took care to ensure that his Gewehr 98 rifle was free of dust that could foul up his weapon by covering it with his zeltbahn.

Apart from the sounds of French artillery, and the rattling caused by the tremors, the only sounds within the bunker were the sounds of boots as men went to and from places all around the bunker, men coughing and fidgeting as they awaited the order to get into firing positions once the barrage let up. Evidently, this barrage was going to be followed up by a major attack by the French.

Even though today was not his first battle (Johannes had his first 'baptism of fire' at the Upper Alsace, once joining the Kgl. Bayerisches 3. Infanterie-Regiment Prinz Karl von Bayern, Kgl. Bayerische 21. Infanterie-Brigade, 11. Bayerische Infanterie-Division), Johannes could not help but wince and close his eyes shut every time a shell landed very close to the bunker, seemingly thinking that the next shell after that might be the last he'd ever hear in his life.

However, he was annoyed, at how the veterans, despite being somewhat his age, all seemed to be apathetic to the barrage, and somewhat envied at how they seemed to be stoic to all the chaos that seemed to be around them.

Johannes soon felt something around his boots, and took a glance at it, only to quickly scramble for something. Immediately, he grabbed a small rock and chucked it right at the rat by his right boot, and yelled, "Beat it!", causing it to run off.  
Laughter erupted within the bunker at this, and Johannes felt embarrassed at this, as the veterans were laughing the hardest.  
One of them said, "Hey, Kollmann, want me to get you a pet rat? Just in case you miss your home and wet your bunk!", before laughing in an uproar.  
Turning red at this, the young Bavarian was sparred from further embarrassment when one of the few friends that he had, Infanterist Ernest Gernhardt, just said simply, "Ignore them, Johannes. A rat's not really worth getting angry over. Save that for the Poliu".  
Sighing in frustration, all he could say was, "Yeah, I know, I know, Ernest. It's just that, despite the fact that I wear the same uniform as them, they don't consider me one of them".

At that, Ernest turned to look at Johannes seriously and say, "It takes a while, before we're considered 'one of them'. Just survive a while longer here, and you might get your wish, but you know what they say, be careful what you wish for, Johannes".

With that conversation over, Johannes decided to get out a letter he had received from father, back home at Kitzingen, in Bavaria, which was quite surprising, as he rarely got letters from his father, who was often busy at work in a munitions factory, making artillery shells for the Army.

 _My dearest Johannes,  
_ _Even though I am proud for you, joining the fight for the Fatherland, I cannot help but feel a pang of loneliness even within the house that me, Constanze and you grew up in._ _Your mother's illness is getting worse and worse, and even though she is getting treatments, I feel that she will not get past the end of this year. The doctors are saying that treatments are not as plentiful as they used to be.  
_ _But enough of that. Your mother still lives for the moment, and all I can do, is pray. For her, and for you. I can only hope that it'll be enough._

 _Stay safe, Johannes._

 _-Your father, Helmuth Kollmann_.

Even though Johannes frowned at how short the letter seemed, he reasoned that there was probably a lot that his father wanted to say to him, but just couldn't find the words to write it down.

However, Johannes sighed in frustration upon reading about his mother, somehow knowing that Constanze Kollmann was living on borrowed time, not at all helped by the conditions back home. He had seen it the last time he was on leave.  
Even though rationing was in place, the blockade by the British was causing essential foodstuffs to be so scarce, that ersatz products like Kriegsbrot were being consumed. People were now starting to suffer from malnutrition. Whispers were being spread of looting and riots.

Shaking himself from those thoughts, Johannes instead tried to think of simpler times, before the war, and before he joined the Army, when suddenly, his mind took notice at, that, the shellfire had stopped.

Their Zugführer, Oberleutnant Albert Teschner (a veteran of the Romanian Campaign), soon called for everyone to get into their firing positions.

There seemed to be a orderly rush for everyone to get out of the bunker. Johannes got his rifle out, into his hands and began moving, until suddenly, someone bumped right into him and made him fall down.  
Feldwebel Paul Knoth, was within the vicinity and shouted to Johannes, "Get up, Kollmann! Or I'll have you volunteering for wiring whenever possible!"  
At that, Johannes immediately got himself back up and rushing to not get further noticed by Knoth or endure more of his wraith.

Eventually, he reached the outside world and got the taste of the aftermath of the French onslaught, the smell of freshly displaced earth in the air, courtesy of shellfire.

And soon, things were a haze as Johannes rushed to his firing position, rested his weapon upon sandbags and laid down into a comfortable firing position.  
Squinting his right eye as he used the iron sights of his Gewehr to aim, Johannes saw them. The French, with their steel helmets and their Lebels, coming up towards the plateau.  
Immediately, the MG08s in the concrete bunkers started opening fire, and soon, Johannes took aim at one of the Poliu, and pulled the trigger. He immediately went down face first, and after that, Johannes went to find his next target.

As the men of 11. Bayerische Infanterie-Division defended their positions against the French onslaught, Johannes was aiming, pulling the trigger, working the bolt of his rifle, then aiming and firing, men falling down every time he pulled down the trigger. It seemed to go on forever, so much so, that he lost track of time.

But then, the whistle of a shell was heard, and immediately, someone right next to him shouted, "TAKE COVER!"

Seconds later, the whistling got louder and louder, and Johannes knew that it was coming close to his position, and immediately he scrambled, jumping off his firing position, hitting the bottom of the trench and scrambling as far away as he could, when suddenly, there was an explosion right behind him, causing debris and smoke to batter and engulf him.

* * *

 _Road leading out South of Bullecourt, France, Europe, Earth, Sol System, Unknown Cluster, Milky Way Galaxy_.  
 _17th May, 1917 CE_.

Corporal Kenneth Standing rubbed his hand over his shaved chin, to get rid of the slight itching irritation that was present, due to the rubber strap that held his slouch hat to his head.

The battle for Bullecourt was over, much of the German trench system around Bullecourt and Riencourt-lès-Cagnicourt was now their possession (with only Hendecourt still in the hands of the Germans) and the men of the 57th (Victoria) Battalion, 15th Brigade, 5th Division, I ANZAC Corps were now withdrawing, having been engaged in the fighting ever since the 5th Division had been called in on the 7th of May and relieving the 1st Division, fending off German attacks, the last one being two days ago.

Now, the British were the ones relieving them, allowing them to withdraw via the road that led to the village of Noreuil, where on the way, they'd get onto buses to some earned rest and recuperation.

Kenneth did not know how long they had been walking, passing Tommies who were on their way to Bullecourt, and passing dug-in 18-pounders, and 4.5-inch howitzers, but soon, everyone was looking pretty exhausted and the section leader, Sergeant Percy Sanders said to the whole section,  
"Alright, everyone, time for a smoko".

He could hear sighs of relief, as everyone sat themselves down on the road.

Sitting himself down, and resting his SMLE Mark III* comfortably (after unslinging it from his right shoulder to allow himself to sit down), Kenneth's woollen gloved hands got out a cigarette and put it to his lips.  
Then he got himself a match from a small matchbox (he had a lighter once, at Gallipoli, but was constantly unreliable, much to his annoyance, and due to the stress of being under constant Turkish sniper fire, the cramped confines of the trenches and the flies that seemed to take too much of a liking to him, caused him to chuck his lighter across no man's land after frustratingly trying to get the blasted thing working) that Kenneth had in his battledress, lit it after a few unsuccessful tries, and brought it up to his cigarette, habitually covering the light emitting from the end of his cigarette.

Ordinarily, Kenneth would never have smoked, but after joining the 5th Battalion, wanting to get away from the seemingly boring country life in his home town at Swan Hill, Victoria and thinking that this war would be one great adventure, everything changed at Gallipoli.  
The naive, 'country boy' (as everyone within the platoon had called him), had disappeared, his romantic view on the 'great adventure, fighting for the Empire against the barbaric Hun', replaced with the reality of war, which was close to Hell on Earth as anyone could ever get in their life time.

But then, Kenneth started missing the trenches of Gallipoli, compared to the trenches of Western Europe, as Kenneth found out after transferring to the new 57th Battalion as a newly promoted Lance Corporal, then training in Egypt, before landing at Marseilles in France, and seeing action at Fromelles (where he had lost a couple of friends in the 'worst 24 hours in Australia's history'), the Somme (where he was promoted to Corporal), the advance on the Hindenburg Line and finally, at Arras.

His musing was then interrupted by Lance Corporal Leslie Hewson, his friend from Ballarat who had been at his side in the trenches at Gallipoli since May 1916, who got out a cigarette, checked his pockets and swore under his breath before asking,  
"Hey, Kenno, got a light? I must have left my matches behind. Damn Tommies are gonna have their dirty little fingers all over my matches, I just know it…."

Rolling his eyes, Kenneth got another match and lit it, as Leslie leaned in closer to allow Kenneth to lit the cigarette in his mouth.  
As the end of his cigarette glowed, Leslie smiled, "Much appreciated, cobber".

As the two friends took their smokes, Kenneth observed the British troops moving towards Bullecourt, before Sergeant Sanders then shouted that smoko was over, and immediately, everyone knew it was time to move up and head back to a rear area where they'd get transport to go on leave.

Getting up, Kenneth then slung his rifle sling across his right shoulder and walked amongst his brothers-in-arms in the 57th towards the rear holding area.

All while this was happening, Kenneth looked at the Tommies marching towards Bullecourt, to his right, and muttered, "Into the frying pan, they go".

* * *

 _Sister's Solitude, outside Ship Dock AI184, Nossia, Ialessa System, Athena Nebula, Milky Way Galaxy_.  
 _18th May, 1917 CE_.

Lieutenant Trileena Navuris was sitting on a stool by the bar, holding a glass of Elasa, watching her sisters in arms as they did what they did whenever they were on leave.

Slowly sipping her drink, Trileena had been asked by her friend, Keilgara, if she wanted to join her at a drinking contest she was having, with some Huntresses from Mytheedia's Sisters, a lone Salarian Lieutenant, a group of Turians and a bunch of Batarians.  
But Trileena had declined, as she had much on her mind after their mission to Cyone. And was content on sitting to the side and letting them enjoy themselves.  
 _After all, the bar chose the right name, Sister's Solitude_ , remarked Trileena.

After seeing that Keilgara was now up against a Batarian (after having outdrunk the Salarian, all the Huntresses and 1 Turian), Trileena looked around the establishment, and saw that Chethra was at a table, talking to a Volus.

Marsselia, meanwhile, was nowhere to be seen, even though she had been with Trileena, Keilgara and Chethra when they entered the establishment.

Major Thanoptis, Captain T'Soni and Senior Huntress Vasir were not present, of course. They had been about to go and do whatever they did whenever they went on leave, but they had been called to the Asari cruiser, _Serrice's Guardian_ , for something important.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't my favourite Huntress".

Trileena's eyes widened at that voice.

Turing around, she could see Kalot Prax, a Krogan battlemaster whom Trileena had first met, about 19 years ago, on the planet of Wrill.

The 147th had been on a mission about to go behind Rachni lines, until their shuttle was shot down and crashed itself upside down amongst the blazing heat and toxic methane-ethane atmosphere. Several onboard, including the pilots, had died from various causes. Asphyxia from exposure to the atmosphere via compromised helmets, broken necks, bleeding out, impaled by shrapnel, you name it.  
Anyway, there had been around 9 survivors, Trileena included, and when the Rachni investigated the crash site, Trileena, Keilgara and an Huntress named Tyssarida, defended the shuttle, from wave after wave of Rachni. Tyssarida had been killed after a Rachni used it's whip to slash her neck, just as her weapon overheated and she was about to unleash 'Throw'. After that, their weapons started malfunctioning, and soon, Trileena and Keilgara started using biotics. And when they overextended themselves, they were about to resort to just using their fists (they were that desperate), when a group of Krogan, Vorcha and Varren reached them and cut down the Rachni fast approaching them.  
Keilgara had collapsed from exhaustion, and soon, Trileena had to work with one Krogan named Kalot Prax, the two of them fending off Rachni until reinforcements arrived.  
This was to be the start of a strong friendship between Trileena and Prax, even though the last time she met Prax, was 3 years ago.

Trileena was ecstatic as she extended her hand and smiled, "Prax! Great to see you!"  
The ageing, scarred battlemaster grinned and grasped her hand, "You too, Tree".

Afterwards, Trileena asked Prax on how was he, and all he said was, "Oh, just on leave before I head out tomorrow. I saw you entering this establishment, and I reckoned that I pay you a visit. I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"

Even though Trileena had wanted a bit of time for herself when she entered Sister's Solitude, she wanted to catch up with her friend in the time that she had, so she shook her head and said, "No, not at all. I was just on my lonesome, while my sisters-in-arms do their thing whilst on leave, until you came along", and thus, she beckoned her Krogan friend, "Come, get a drink".

As Prax approached the bar, the bartender easily noticed the Krogan, not that hard since Prax had a black, spiked crest, as well as spikes on his chin, and his scars extended from his throat, right side of his face, mouth and crest, which made him stand out in a crowd.

The bartender asked dryly,  
"Oh, let me guess. Ryncol, right?"

A pause and "Armali Juice".

The bartender laughed outrageously for a few seconds, but upon seeing that Prax was serious, immediately changed her tune and set off to get some Armali Juice.  
At this exchange, Trileena snickered at Prax, and asked, "Still drinking Armali Juice?"  
"Yeah, you know me, Tree. Armali Juice may not be ryncol, but it's sharp. Just the way I like it".

Moments later, the bartender came back with Prax's order "Here, one Armali Juice, as you ordered", before turning her attention to Trileena, "You want a second round of Elasa?"

Trileena took note of her glass of Elasa, which was now bone dry (something Trileena hadn't realised until now), and nodded her head to the bartender, who got a bottle and filled the glass up.

And now, with a full glass of Elasa, Trileena was then asked by Prax "So, you on leave as well, Tree?"  
"Yeah. Just came from Cyone. We're here for 5 days, before we leave for Canrum".  
The krogan paused, "Huh, that's where I'm going as well. Turians apparently need Krogan reinforcements, and yeah, well, I'm it".

A raised eyebrow and, she asked "What, you, by your handsome lonesome, Prax?", before indicating to Prax's scars on his face and crest.  
Gruffly, the old Krogan battlemaster laughed, "Ha! I wish. Nah, it'll be the 6th Legion going as well as me. Anyways, point is, we'll probably clean the bugs up long before you arrive. Save you a lot of trouble".

Trileena smirked, "Nah, we'll be rushing in to save you from trouble before you know it, old man".

Chuckling, the Krogan then held his glass up, "Well, then. To saving this old man from trouble from a bunch of bugs".  
Smiling, Trileena said simply, "Yep", before the two of them clinked their glasses together.

Then the two of them drank their drinks in silence afterwards.

* * *

 **I had been working on a segment that would have been set at the Battle of Polygon Wood, from Kenneth Standing's perspective. But I kept getting stuck and it wasn't working, so I instead changed the setting to the end of the Battle of Arras, which I admit, worked better.**

 **In case anyone is wondering, the segment depicting Infanterist Johannes Kollmann of the 11th Bavarian Infantry Division, is set during the Second Battle of the Aisne, the main part of the Nivelle Offensive, which was a Franco-British attempt (of which the Battle of Arras was also a part of) to inflict a decisive defeat on the German Army, but however, the preceding artillery bombardment alerted the Germans and failed to destroy German defensive positions, which were a network of deep shelters in old underground stone quarries below the Chemin des Dames ridge, so when the French infantry (and colonial Senegalese troops) made their assault, the German machine gunners let rip, inflicting many French casualties, up to 40,000 on the first day alone.**

 **Despite some initial successes at Champagne and taking 29,000 prisoners, the offensive's failure to achieve a strategic defeat on the German Army, resulted in multiple French Army mutinies, which were stopped when General** **Philippe Pétain** **took command and replaced General Robert Nivelle as Commander in Chief of the French armies on the Western Front, improved conditions for the troops (better food, more pay and more leave) and promised no suicidal attacks (only conducting limited offensives that were to wear the German Army down while conserving French infantry, as** **Pétain** **waited for the Renault FT tank to be produced in larger numbers, as well as waiting for the Americans).**

 **Wiring duty was basically replacing barbed wire and placing barbed wire obstacles in No Man's Land, which had to be done at night, making it potentially hazardous, especially since minimal noise while working was required.**

 **Poliu is a term used to refer to the French infantryman of World War One. It meant, literally, _hairy one_ , as they often wore beards and moustaches.**

 **For those not familiar with Australian (and New Zealander) slang, a Smoko is an informal, cigarette break (even though it could also mean a rest or a coffee/tea break, as well as a mid-morning break, between breakfast and lunch, to eat a light meal) which originated firstly with the British Merchant Navy in the 1860s, but for the Australians, originated with the sheep shearers of the 1860s.**

 **And Cobber is basically an Australian and an New Zealander word for 'mate' and 'friend'.**

 **The segment set at the Sister's Solitude establishment, actually, was not planned initially and Trileena was not to make an appearance yet for some time, but I instead decided to have a segment focusing on Trileena on her off-time in between fighting the Rachni with the 147th Huntress Unit, as so to expand her character a bit more.**

 **Don't forget to leave a review whenever you can, and see you next time!**

 **Update (7/5/17): Had to delete this chapter, which I posted originally on the 5th of May, and repost it due to a glitch that's happening all across the site. Apparently, chapters are being updated, but no one gets any alerts via email. Oh and the only way to know that someone's updated, is the number of chapters, which isn't really the best way to know if someone has updated. I know, it sucks, but that's apparently the way it is, until someone fixes it.**

 **Update (11/6/17): Added a physical description of Prax.**

 **Update (29/6/17): Changed the month of the update previous to this one. Also, this chapter, which was originally chapter 4, I had plans for a segment focused on a battlefront against the Rachni, with three segments focused on Earth, but I reckoned that this chapter worked better, standing on it's own as a more relaxed chapter, focused on the interlude in between battles.**

 **Then came the suggestion on the 29th, that I merge some of the prologue chapters, so I took a look at** **the original Chapter 3, which was just consisted of Infanterist Johannes Kollmann's participation during the Second Battle of the Aisne, and I realised that it worked well, to merge that with the original chapter 4, as an opening segment.**

 **Also, d** **id a restructuring of the chapter, trying to make the paragraphs not all bunched up.  
** **Special thanks to Apollonir for pointing all of this out!**

 **Update (3/7/17): Changed Chimes des Dames to it's proper name, Chemin des Dames. Whoops!**


	4. Prologue Part 4

**Disclaimer: Mass Effect does not belong to me. It belongs to it's respective owner, namely Bioware.**

* * *

 _Kallis Pula Ridge, Zada Ban, Xe Cha System, Shrike Abyssal, Milky Way Galaxy_.  
 _1st August, 1917 CE_.

General Varlyx Tarradus, was analysing the battleground with a pair of ScanFinders, outside of the Scakol command & control vehicle that was parked on the Kallis Pula Ridge, a high ridge that overlooked the Turra Kan Plains, where his Turian brothers and sisters were holding the line against the Rachni advance, with the help of the Quarians and the Krogan.

"General Tarradus? Battlelord Uryenx wants to speak to you, sir. He's on the line".

Putting down his ScanFinders, and turning around to look at his aide, Lieutenant Castius Arterius, General Tarradus sighed and wordlessly lead on to get inside the 'Ops Center' of the Scakol, somewhat dreading talking to the Gatatog Battlelord.

Inside the Ops Center, as he went to the BattleSpace Map, Tarradus could see Colonel Nyreen Oraka's 47th Legion on the map, holding at the center of the defensive line, while the Quarian's 32nd Marine Division were on his left flank, while Battlelord Uryenx's 206th Division were on the right flank.

Putting Uryenx on the line, the holographic image displayed the Gatatog warlord, who wasn't exactly looking happy.  
" _Ah, finally! When are you gonna let us lead the charge, let us bash some bug skulls, while you boneheads mop up the mess we leave behind_?"

General Tarradus held a hand up to silence Uryenx, and said "Hold up, Warlord. Rachni positions are still quite formidable, even after having withstood orbital bombardment, so we can't just rush in. Rachni are superb ambushers, you know this. We need to be smart if we need to drive the Rachni off".  
And before Uryenx could retort Tarradus' statement, the General turned to his aide, "Alright, get me in contact with General Reegar and Colonel Oraka. We'll need a battle plan before we get started? If you please, Lieutenant?"

At Lieutenant Arterius' nod, two additional holographic images of General Tez'Reegar nar Adas and Nyreen Oraka appeared alongside Uryenx's holographic image, and Tarradus asked the two, "Generals, how are things holding up on your ends?"

General Reegar let Oraka answer first, and she reported, in prim-proper Turian fashion, " _Sir, the 47th Legion stands at the ready, ready and waiting to do their part_ ".  
Tarradus nodded his head and then faced Reegar, who answered, " _Well General Tarradus, my Marines are battle-ready, and awaiting the go-ahead_ ".  
"Good to hear. Now, we need to formulate a plan of attack against Rachni positions, before we can commence our attack".

Uryenx, impatient as ever, boasted, " _Good, because we're done waiting around. Just point us in the right direction, and we'll squash those bugs straight into the void, while you just clean up after us_ ".

As Reegar and Oraka shot the Krogan a stern look for such a comment, and were about to speak out for him to mind his tongue, Tarradus rose a hand to silence a forthcoming argument and then asked his aide, "What support assets do we currently have at the moment?"

Lieutenant Arterius checked his datapad and dutifully said, "Well, the 47th currently has a Armoured Fighting Formation of AFUV-59 Vurkyx armoured fighting vehicles, 2 Heavy Fire Support Formations of HAFSV-84 Derirelix self-propelled artillery vehicles and 4 Aerial Support Elements of A-45 Marnix gunships. Oh, and the Geth cruiser _GCC9M1347_ and the Batarian cruiser _Krektok_ , are in orbit, General".

Nodding his head, Tarradus asked Reegar if the Geth cruiser had a contingent of Geth to spare.

After affirming that, Tarradus soon formed a battle plan,  
"First, the _Krektok_ is to launch an orbital bombardment of Rachni positions targeted by the troops on the ground. They'll keep the Rachni suppressed while the 47th Legion, the 32nd Marines and the 206th Division start their advance. Then the Geth, will commence an orbital drop, behind Rachni lines and advance, towards our troops. With that, the hope is that our advance will crush the Rachni positions, then we will hold those positions, consolidate, gather our strength, and then prepare for the next battle", and finished off with "Now, I leave the next phase in your hands. Prepare for battle".

* * *

 _Firebase Krarsh, Turra Kan Plains, Zada Ban, Xe Cha System, Shrike Abyssal, Milky Way Galaxy_.  
 _1st August, 1917 CE_.

Second Sergeant Solana Kandros, detachment leader of Perelyrk Detachment, 5th Platoon, Rostra Section, 1st Formation, 47th Legion, was now in one of Firebase Krarsh's hangars, which had been repurposed into a briefing room for the entire Formation.

Once in the assembled briefing room, Major Arrarus Tyix entered the room and an officer somewhere shouted "Officer present!"  
Every Turian within the Formation, who had been sitting down on their assigned chairs, doing whatever they were doing, now stopped what they were doing and immediately shot up into rigid position of attention.

Major Tyix stood in front of the entire formation, before waving his hand at everyone and saying,  
"Alright, stand at ease, everyone. You may sit down".

With that order, the briefing began as every Turian relaxed from their position of attention and sat down in their chairs.

Second Sergeant Kandros listened, with avid attention, as Major Tyix detailed the plan for the 47th Legion to advance, alongside the Quarian 32nd Marine Division and the Krogan 206th Division, while a Batarian cruiser commenced an orbital bombardment of Rachni positions.  
Equally interesting, was that a Geth cruiser was in orbit also, and would be dropping a contingent of Geth, behind the Rachni lines, then the Geth would advance towards the Turians, the Quarians and the Krogan, trapping the Rachni in a 'vice movement', a manoeuvre that in Turian strategy, meant two of the same forces on opposite sides, advancing towards each other, destroying the enemy in front of them.

Kandros looked at the Turians assembled and there was some hushed whispers amongst themselves.  
Ever since the Geth were created in 1849 CE, many had concerns over the Geth, and for very good reason, as despite the Quarians' stating that the Geth were not really AI, but advanced, non-sentient Virtual Intelligences, there was a tense feeling over the Geth, for fear of them rising against the Quarians and the Citadel races.

When the Geth gained sentience in 1895 CE, there was initially fears that the Geth would go rogue, but those fears were unfounded as some Quarian scientist, whose name Kandros couldn't remember, managed to plead that deactivating the Geth would make them revolt, and that in the midst of a war with the Rachni, it was not exactly wise to do so.  
Thus, the Quarians allowed the Geth to go to full sentience and through some complex deal arranged by the Quarians and the Geth, the synthetics continued to serve as soldiers for the Quarians.

Despite many people's unease over the synthetics, Kandros herself, was of the opinion, that as long as the Geth could shoot some Rachni, she and them would have no problem.

Major Tyix was still continuing on with the briefing, detailing about the formations and the elements that would be participating in the upcoming battle.  
"Colonel Oraka's lending over Krelliok Heavy Fire Support Formation and Artemic Element to the 32nd Marines. Teerkex Heavy Fire Support Formation and Darratus Element will be detached to the 206th, while we keep Baralix Armoured Fighting Formation, Terqius Element and Gorrek Element..."

* * *

 _Turra Kan Plains, Zada Ban, Xe Cha System, Shrike Abyssal, Milky Way Galaxy_.  
 _1st August, 1917 CE_.

The attack was underway, and Perelyrk Detachment was moving to confront the Rachni, who were still being bombarded in their defensive positions by the Batarian cruiser _Krektok_.

But of course, even orbital bombardment was not enough to completely destroy the Rachni, as their defensive positions tended to be consisted of a network of tunnels, connected to burrows of various sizes.  
And quite often, it was easy to mistake burrows to craters. And sometimes, craters were hidden by Rachni-made covers that camouflaged their craters, which meant that anyone who would make such a mistake to not check the ground, would often not get a chance to rectify a mistake.

As three Turians from her Detachment soon found out, when they passed the edge of a large water-filled crater, and soon, two whips shot out to impale the two soldiers, while the third, was struck in the helmet by acid spit.

As the third soldier screamed at the acid that melted right through the helmet and started burning his face, the whips quickly pulled in the two impaled soldiers under the water, and soon, the rest of Perelyrk Detachment were firing rounds into the crater, trying to hopefully kill the Rachni Soldier that had laid hidden in the crater.  
However, the Detachment was wasting rounds, so Kandros shouted for everyone to cease fire.

As the guns fell silent, Kandros then ordered that a grenade be deposited into the crater, and thus a soldier, Legionius Adunn Porra'ik, one of the Detachment's 'fresh faces' (a term used by the Hierarchy for new recruits fresh from boot camp), got a fragmentation grenade, armed it and dropped it into the crater.

A few seconds and soon enough, a large plume of water, dirt, Rachni blood and body parts erupted, showering Kandros and her men.

The men, all exclaimed in disgust, before scrambling to brush off the water, the dirt, the blood and body parts, off their armor.

Kandros, unfazed by the muck and filth on her armor, then gave her next orders.  
"Alright everyone, start moving up! Watch the ground and check those craters! I don't want those bugs to catch us by surprise again!"

* * *

 _Passchendaele, Belgium, Europe, Earth, Sol System, Unknown Cluster, Milky Way Galaxy_.  
 _19th October, 1917 CE_.

Sergeant Charles Boyd had been here before.

It was such a long time ago, but he remembered being a recently promoted Lance Corporal in April 1915 (after impressing his commanders at Salisbury Plain whilst training there from October 1914 till February 1915). Not many people in the Battalion could really claim that they were around from the very beginning, when the 10th Battalion had it's baptism of fire at Ypres (or "Wipers" as they started to call it, after a few attempted tries at pronouncing the name just made everyone give up at trying to call it Ypres), and not just because they started getting killed in future battles afterwards.

Boyd had remembered the counter attack at Kitchener's Wood that resulted in a bayonet charge, and most particularly, remembered the chlorine gas that struck them.  
The memories of smelling the mixed pepper pineapple odour and seeing the green cloud of the chlorine, were enough to make Boyd shiver and shake those thoughts away, refocusing back to the present day. He _really_ did not want to go and relive those memories again.

Blinking his eyes, refocusing back to the present, Boyd realised that he was clutching the pouch for his Small Box Respirator mask, seemingly ready to pull it out and put it on his face.

Calming himself down, Boyd took some deep breaths, trying to pull himself together, as he did really not want the men to see him in this state, knowing that they depended on him to stay alive in this man-made hell.

That Aussie Sergeant, Kenneth Standing, hadn't been kidding when he said ' _Welcome to Hell. Literally_ ', as the Canucks of the 1st Canadian Division relieved his fellow Aussies of the II Anzac Corps.  
Boyd had lead his men across trench mats (basically, wooden plank boards), that had been set in between massive shell holes that had been filled to the brim with dirty, muddy water, and were slippery as fuck, due to the rainfall that had been falling since the 10th.  
Worse, the mud had been very sloshy under the weight of the men walking across the plank boards.  
Slipping, essentially meant an end to your life in the quagmire that they travelled through.  
So Charles took extra care whilst walking on the plank boards, while issuing reminders to the men to do the same.

Now though, the Canadian Corps were about to commence an series of attacks on Passchendaele and the ridge of the same name at around on the 26th.

And even though the 10th Battalion were not going to commence the attack, due to the 1st Canadian Division being held in reserve along with the 2nd Canadian Division, their commander, Lieutenant Colonel D. M. Ormond, was taking no chances and had been drilling his men extensively, preparing for the assault as if they were going to commence the assault.

But right now, they were heading to a reserve trench, where they would be staying until called for.

* * *

 _Cambrai, France, Europe, Earth, Sol System, Unknown Cluster, Milky Way Galaxy_.  
 _20th November, 1917 CE_.

The mechanical creaks, clanking and grin of the Mark IV tank, as it trundled along, were ever so present, even over the loud engine blaring away within the crew compartment.

Corporal Terence Wynne coughed heavily behind his leather/chainmail mask as the fumes of the _Grouchy Gremlin_ 's 6-cylinder Daimler-Foster 16 litre petrol engine filled the crew compartment, and squinted his eyes to look through the slits of his mask, in order to scan for targets with the starboard sponson 6-pounder gun.  
In fact, Terence had spent so much time coughing, but it seemed that time flew by and as they approached, the Germans unleashed their attack onto the _Gremlin_ , only for their rifle and machine gun rounds to ricochet or bounce off their armor.

The commander, Second Lieutenant Leonard Collins, immediately sprung into action, issuing the orders.  
"Wynne! Get onto the gun and shoot back!"

Targeting the muzzle-flashes up ahead, Wynne manoeuvred his 6-pounder (which was the only one able to shoot straight ahead due to the sponson configuration not being mirror images of each other, unlike the tanks that came before the Mark IV) and pulled the trigger.  
Immediately, he felt the immense recoil of the 6-pounder, as it's first round landed right on target and immediately, a plume of debris and smoke erupted.

Pulling the lever on the breech, Wynne then moved over to allow the loader/starboard Lewis gunner, Lance Corporal Morris Hume, to reach over to the rack of shells, select one and push it right into the 6-pounder with his fist, allowing the breech to close.  
With the 6-pounder loaded, Wynne got back onto the gun and put his hand on the handgrip, finger hovering by the trigger, and scanned the horizon for more targets.

A selection of German bunkers, combined with German infantry, were soon in his sights, as the Gremlin turned left, and Morris let rip with the Lewis.  
Collins yelled his orders, "Wynne, target the bunkers! Hume! Take out the infantry!"  
Aiming the 6-pounder, the Welshman from Swansea pulled the trigger, and the bunker went up in a plume of smoke, fire and rubble, while, Morris targeted German infantry that got in his sights.

Wynne reloaded the 6-pounder and watched as the British infantry moved into the German trenches, clearing them out of any German soldiers still unfortunate enough to be still living.

Lieutenant Collins, satisfied that they had accomplished their part here, ordered the driver to move forward, and both Wynne and Morris started scanning for more targets, as the _Grouchy Gremlin_ advanced.

* * *

 **And that is, the end of the prologue chapters.  
Next chapter, we will be definitely jumping ahead to 1918, where the Rachni War will definitely be heading for Earth.**

 **I had initially planned for a chapter dedicated to Private Albert Tillard and Corporal Terence Wynne's participation in the 1917 Battle of Cambrai, but Albert's part in the chapter wasn't working, and after taking it out, I felt that Wynne's part would have been too small for a chapter of it's own, so this is why the chapter closes off with Corporal Terence Wynne and the crew of the Mark IV tank, the Grouchy Gremlin, at Cambrai.**

 **And with the Battle of Passchendaele, I had planned for parts with Sergeant Charles Boyd in the reserve trench, to provide a look at what went on in between battles within the trenches, and I also had planned a part with Johannes Kollmann, but those parts, I just couldn't get them to work. So instead, I just decided to hold off on Johannes Kollmann and see if I can add him in later (which we probably will, so do keep your fingers crossed).**

 **Anyways, don't forget to leave a review whenever you can, and see you next time!**

 **Update (29/5/17): Changed a redundant line and a typo. Special thanks to codythedude for pointing these out.  
** **Update (27/6/17): Changed holo communication lines to italic and also added an additional line. Oh, and also changed the month of this update, as I had put 7 instead of 6. Whoops!  
** **Update (29/6/17): Done some restructuring of the chapter, trying not to bunch up the paragraphs. Special thanks to Apollonir for pointing this out.**


	5. The Myrik'tah System

**Disclaimer: Mass Effect does not belong to me. It belongs to it's respective owner, namely Bioware.  
**

* * *

 _Crew Quarters 10, Athame's Wisdom class cruiser Kurinth's Keen Sight, traveling at FTL to the Myrik'tah System, Arcturus Stream, Milky Way_.  
 _14th March, 1918 CE_.

Lieutenant Trileena Navuris was residing on one of the bottom bunks, holding a datapad containing her personnel logs, and writing up a new entry into it.

==  
 _ **Personnel log entry No. 673, of Lieutenant Trileena Navuris, of the 147th Huntress Unit:  
**_ _ **14th Day of the Third Month of the Year 1918 CE**._

 _It had been going so well. Me, and my sisters-in-arms, were on a month's leave from the mission on Logasiri, enjoying the respite as much as we could, when Asari High Command cancelled our leave, about two and a half weeks in. The ship taking us, the Kurinth's Keen Sight, was assigned to a flotilla of ships tasked for immediate deployment beyond the Cipritine Line. We only just got the full briefing this morning._

 _Reports from the Salarians have been coming, of Rachni ships near the Myrik'tah System. Even though we usually get reports of Rachni ships attempting to look for a secret breakthrough through the Cipritine Line, the final defensive line that is the only thing standing between the Rachni advance, and worlds like Thessia, Sur'Kesh, Palaven, Tuchanka and the Citadel itself, this report was most unusual, because the five Rachni Scout Ships were being led by a Rachni Dreadnought. This was most peculiar and High Command definitely deemed it worth investigating, because Rachni dreadnoughts only participate in major frontline fleet actions, and not leading scouting missions. So whatever the Rachni found, they've deemed it really important enough to send a dreadnought._

 _However, the same could not be said for us._

 _Even though the Rachni have a dreadnought out there, High Command could not release any dreadnought from their reserves as, quote, we do not have any to spare for a scouting mission, unquote._

 _Personally, I think they really need to rethink, because the force that we have, 4 Asari, Salarian and Turian cruisers, are no match for six Rachni ships, especially a dreadnought. I just hope that we will be ready to meet the challenge and survive long enough out there.  
======_

As she finished off her entry, a voice interrupted the silence,  
"Trileena?"

Looking up from her datapad, Trileena raised her head to look up to the roof of her bunk, where the owner of that voice, Lieutenant Keilgara T'Listra, was residing.

"Finally woke up, Keilgara?"  
"Hey, that briefing was long. And I would have fallen asleep if I didn't catch a nap". And on que, Trileena could hear her friend yawning, and then stretching her arms to get herself awake.

Rolling her eyes, but smiling none the less, Trileena then asked her friend, "What's on your mind, Keil?"

It was only a pause and Keilgara asked, "Well, what do you reckon the bugs are up to, Tree?"  
"Beats me. Besides, you know just as much as I do. A Rachni dreadnought is leading 5 scout ships towards the Myrik'tah system, and whatever's there, the Rachni are sending a dreadnought there, whilst we've only got 4 cruisers to counter them".  
"Yeah. Don't you think they should have sent **us** a dreadnought instead?"  
"Nope. High Command thinks this mission's not important to send a dreadnaught. And we've not got a lot. Not since Lihrat".  
Immediately, Keilgara's mood dampened, as did Trileena's over the mention of Lihrat, where 59 dreadnoughts were lost in the first 10 hours of the battle, and from then on, the Citadel fleet had been forced to retreat, allowing the Rachni to land on Heshtok, the Vorcha homeworld, and where a siege was still ongoing as of today.

After a pause of silence, Keilgara groaned and asked, "Goddess, I just took a nap after a long briefing and I'm still bored! What 'bout you, Tree?", but Trileena knew what was coming up next, judging at how sudden that question was made and said abruptly, "Well, we're gonna be exiting a relay soon enough. So I'm afraid the Rachni will put a dampener on whatever you've got planned".

Even though Trileena couldn't see it, she knew Keilgara was pouting. "Damn bugs…."

But before anyone could say anything, they were soon interrupted by the intercom, and the Captain's voice came out of it, " _All hands, we are about to exit the relay. All hands, man your battle stations_ ".

Keilgara sighed and jumped off from her bunk with a smirk, "Well, duty calls", as she sprinted off out of the Crew Quarters.

Trileena got out from her bunk and followed with a smile, "That it does, my friend. That it does".

* * *

On the Bridge of the _Aifa's Endurance_ class cruiser, the _Talat's Sentinel_ , Captain Morik Tolos observed his BattleSpace Table, which currently displayed his flotilla, comprised of the Turian Spirit of Apparitus class cruiser _Spirit of Xerksulus_ following on alongside the Estivus Erax class cruiser _Estivus Erax_ , with the _Kurinth's Keen Sight_ tailing behind, traveling through FTL.

Amongst the chatter by the bridge crew, only one that Tolos was really hearing at this moment in time, was the First Officer, Commander Jurlo Tepak, "10 seconds".

And in punctual time, the _Talat's Sentinel_ exited FTL, and so did the rest of the flotilla.

Without waiting, the view-screen was opened and they could see the Rachni ships in a defensive position around Relay 782.

Tolos' eyes analysed the situation. 5 Rachni scout ships with one Rachni dreadnought, just as the report said. The dreadnought had it's stern to the relay, as so allow it's guns to be trained on any enemy that came within range, with 3 Rachni scout ships flanking it, while 2 of them were working on the Relay itself.

Tolos ordered that the flotilla get into hiding, as so to not get shot by the dreadnought, and continue observing the Rachni.  
And they did so, by hiding behind the dark side of a natural satellite of the gas giant that was located near their exiting Relay, Relay 784.

The Rachni were still holding defensive positions around Relay 782 when _Talat's Sentinel_ and the rest of the ships got into hiding.  
But as Tolos watched the BattleSpace Table, about to formulate his next plan, one of the crewmen working on his monitor, quickly got the Captain's attention, "Captain, Relay 782 just activated!"  
Analysis on the BattleSpace Table confirmed that, as the Relay's set of rings started rotating, for a good few minutes, until the element zero core started glowing.

Then the Rachni dreadnought turned to port and powered engines, before the scout ships took the lead and jumped ahead.

After each scout ship jumped through the Relay, the Rachni dreadnought followed and jumped through as well.

* * *

Immediately, the flotilla had spent the entire day securing the system, and checking over Relay 782.

The _Estivus Erax_ had established a communications link with Relay 782, trying to establish where the Rachni were going, while the _Spirit of Xerksulus_ and _Kurinth's Keen Sight_ maintained a patrol formation, checking out the system, while the Talat's Sentinel stayed exactly where it was.

On board the _Talat's Sentinel_ , Commander Tepak soon got a transmission from the _Estivus Erax_ , and reported it to Captain Tolos.  
"Captain, we have their destination".  
"On BST, if you please, Commander".

Immediately, the BattleSpace Table changed, and displayed Relay 782, before showing the Rachni's destination, at Relay 207, which was in a system beyond the Arcturus Stream, a mere four days journey.

"An undiscovered relay and system? But why would the Rachni head there? What's there that the Rachni would want?"  
"Evidently, it's that important to send a dreadnought".

Tolos, put a hand up to his chin, obviously being in deep thought.  
Everyone on the bridge let the Captain think in peace, taking care to not make unnecessary noise that'd disturb him.

A few more minutes, and Tolos finally came to a decision, "All ships, make jump through the relay. Be ready for battle upon exit".

Immediately, orders were transmitted to the rest of the flotilla, with the _Estivus Erax_ and the _Spirit of Xerksulus_ taking position in front of the _Talat's Sentinel_ , while the _Kurinth's Keen Sight_ took position behind the _Talat's Sentinel_ and soon, the flotilla began the Mass Relay jump.

First, the _Estivus Erax_ , then the _Spirit of Xerksulus_ jumped through Relay 782, then the _Talat's Sentinel_ followed. Then the _Kurinth's Keen Sight_ was the last ship to enter the relay, and soon, all four ships were heading towards Relay 207, where they hoped to discover what the Rachni were planning.

* * *

 **And so it begins...  
** **The Rachni are enroute to the Solar System, with a flotilla of Asari, Salarian and Turian ships in pursuit.  
The next few chapters, the Rachni and the flotilla arrives at the Solar System.**

 **Anyways, don't forget to leave a review whenever you can, and see you next time!**

 **Update (29/6/17): Did a restructuring of the chapter, trying not to bunch up the paragraphs. Special thanks to Apollonir for pointing this out. Also added, some additional lines.**


	6. Entry into the Sol System

**Disclaimer: Mass Effect does not belong to me. It belongs to it's respective owner, namely Bioware.**

* * *

 _Relay 207, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way_.  
 _18th March, 1918 CE_.

Underneath the surface of the moon of a dwarf planet that was in a ecliptic orbit around the system's star, the dormant Mass Relay, Relay 207 suddenly received a command for it's activation, in anticipation for arrivals from another linking relay, Relay 782.

Even though deeply buried, the two rings started to move, causing the ice surrounding the relay to crumble, in effect, causing the whole moon itself to start breaking apart.

And the crumbling caused massive fractures across the moon's surface, which then resulted in massive chunks of ice/rock meteoroids that later started orbiting the Mass Relay.

The rings, which were now revolving at a normal place, started emitting a blue glow from the core of element zero.

Soon, the dwarf planet, which was becoming 'gravitationally anchored' to the Mass Relay, was suddenly changing it's orbit from ecliptic to a circular orbit.

Once fully operating, the Relay's rings now starting revolving at a much faster pace, as it detected several ships about to exit the Relay.

Immediately, the Rachni Scout Ships came out first, each one in quick succession, before the Rachni Dreadnaught finally came out of the Relay.

Soon, the ships began moving, heading towards the 8th planet within the system, managing to pass it and get on a heading to the 7th planet, when the Relay started spinning it's rings again, in anticipation for another round of ships that were about to exit the relay.

* * *

 _Bridge, Aifa's Endurance class cruiser Talat's Sentinel, exiting Relay 207, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way_.  
 _18th March, 1918 CE_.

Captain Morik Tolos of the _Talat's Sentinel_ , braced himself against the BattleSpace Table as the _Talat's Sentinel_ exited the relay, after four days traveling through 782.

And after the ships exited the relay, Tolos ordered his ships to maintain a holding pattern by the relay.

"Analysis of system?"  
"Scanning commencing. 2 minutes".

And once those two minutes were done, the BattleSpace Table displayed the entire system.

Tolos could see one dwarf planet in close proximity to Relay 207, two ice giants, two gas giants, an asteroid belt and four terrestrial planets (some with their own natural satellites, others with none), orbiting a yellow dwarf star.

But then, his eyes picked up one small detail. No Rachni ships detected.

Frowning, Tolos then decided to confer with the captains of the other ships.

Captain Sydrus Vakarian of the _Spirit of Xerksulus_ , Captain Desolas Nyx of the _Estivus Erax_ and Captain Ayssena Kesth'ra of the _Kurinth's Keen Sight_ were soon in conference with Tolos, who was still going over the BattleSpace Table.

After asking for the location of the Rachni ships, Captain Tolos got his answer from Captain Kesth'ra, who reported, " _No sign of the Rachni at all_ ".

Tolos and Tepak exchanged glances, and the First officer expressed his opinion very clearly.  
"It's not like the Rachni for them to sneak and hide their dreadnoughts. They know that our cruisers are no match for their dreadnought, so why are they hiding?"  
The Captain agreed, "This is most curious".

Captain Nyx concurred, " _What's even curious, is that they've not even left the system. I've taken the liberty to check out the computer systems of the Relay, and they've not used the relay to jump out anywhere_ ".  
Captain Vakarian agreed with her fellow Captain and added, " _So, that means they're still within the system_ ".

A pause and Tolos concluded, "They must be heading deeper within the system".  
"Indeed", Tepak agreed.

Nyx slammed a fist in his hand and said, " _Then, we must draw them out, and destroy them_ ".

Tepak spoke up in alarm, "Wait, destroy a Rachni dreadnought and 5 Rachni scout ships? With a mere four cruisers? Can't we get some backup on this?"  
Tolos interjected, "No, we cannot. And even if we did call for reinforcements, do remember that it took the Rachni and us four days to reach this system at normal speed. Even if they exceeded speed limits, the reinforcements would never reach here in time to save us".

An awkward silence fell amongst the Captains, as they faced quite a situation. In that, they were outgunned, but unable to call upon reinforcements and they could not allow the Rachni to do whatever it is they are planning.

Captain Kesth'ra, spoke up and asked the obvious question, " _So, what do we do_?"  
Tolos came to a decision quickly, "Isolate the dreadnought from it's escort ships. Destroy those scout ships, one at a time. With it's escorts gone, the dreadnought will have to continue hiding, enough time for reinforcements to arrive".

Captain Nyx asked the obvious question " _But what if the dreadnought decides to come out of hiding_?"  
A **_really_** , tense pause followed that question, and Tolos sighed, "Well, let's hope that it doesn't come to that. But maybe, if we're lucky, we could do some significant damage to the dreadnought. That could really help even the odds between us and the dreadnought".

A period of silence and Captain Vakarian nodded her head, agreeing, " _Well, it's better than just sitting around and doing nothing. But I think we need to get to it, before the Rachni decide to make the decision for us. Your orders, Captain Tolos_?"  
Tolos took immediate action and stated " _Estivus Erax_ , you are to remain at Relay 207, while we leave to engage the Scout ships. The _Talat's Sentinel_ will take the center, _Kurinth's Keen Sight_ is to flank our right, _Spirit of Xerksulus_ is to be on our left".

Commander Tepak ordered the bridge crew to "Engines to quarter thrust".  
But as the _Talat's Sentinel_ powered it's engines into a gentle cruise, Captain Tolos engaged the FTL communications and sent a message to Suluk Base, where his flotilla had departed from, to begin their investigation.

" _Emergency Message to Suluk Base:_ _This is Captain Morik Tolos of the Talat's Sentinel in unchartered system beyond Relay 782, a relay that Rachni force has been observed reactivating and using whilst in the Myrik'tah system, Arcturus Stream. Exited undiscovered Relay 207. Intentions of Rachni is still unknown. System is consisted of one dwarf planet, two ice giants, two gas giants, asteroid belt, four terrestrial planets, with accompanying natural satellites, all orbiting a yellow dwarf star.  
_ _Will attempt to isolate Rachni dreadnought by engaging and destroying Rachni scout ships. Requesting immediate reinforcements, to secure the system. Exceeding relay travel speed limits necessary, as time is of the essence. That is all_ ".

* * *

 **With the Rachni and Tolos' flotilla in our Solar System, a confrontation is inevitable! Four cruisers vs a Rachni dreadnought and five scout ships.  
** **For the next few chapters, we're gonna be focusing on Captain Morik Tolos and his flotilla for a while before we get round to Earth.  
** **  
So, next chapters, will be the start of starship engagements between Tolos' flotilla, and the Rachni, in the Sol System.  
** **  
But have no fear. We'll get around to Earth eventually.  
** **  
Anyways, don't forget to leave a review whenever you can, and see you next time!  
** **  
Update (21/6/17): Changed "Exceeded relay travel speed limits" to "Exceeding relay travel speed limits necessary". Because this is essential in future chapters.  
Update (27/6/17): Changed holographic communications to italic.  
Update (29/6/17): Spaced out the paragraphs so that they don't seem bunched up. Special thanks to Apollonir for pointing this out. Also, added some additional lines.**


	7. Battle of the Scout Ships

**Disclaimer: Mass Effect does not belong to me. It belongs to it's respective owners, namely Bioware.  
**

* * *

 _Bridge, Aifa's Endurance class cruiser Talat's Sentinel, on a heading for Neptune, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way_.  
 _18th March, 1918 CE_.

After the _Talat's Sentinel_ sent the FTL message through Relay 207, to Suluk Base, the base where the flotilla departed from to embark on their investigation, the rest of the flotilla started moving out.

 _Estivus Erax_ hung back at the Relay, as ordered, while the _Spirit of Xerksulus_ taking position on the port side and the _Kurinth's Keen Sight_ taking the starboard side of the _Talat's Sentinel_ , which lead the way and moved towards the eighth planet, a ice giant with an azure blue hue, an atmosphere of hydrogen, helium, with traces of hydrocarbons and nitrogen (along with a higher proportion of ices, namely water, ammonia and methane, which also traces of the later in the outermost regions, gave the planet it's blue appearance), five faint, fragmented rings and several natural satellites of various sizes and shapes.

The _Talat's Sentinel_ was on it's way to investigate a possible Rachni Scout Ship sighting in the proximity of the ice giant, with _Spirit of Xerksulus_ and _Kurinth's Keen Sight_ backing it up.

Meanwhile, as the three ships went on a gentle cruise towards a geostationary orbit over the gas giant, a lone Salarian, Operator Officer Jarun Galrt, was working on a sensor console on the bridge, monitoring the ice giant's largest moon, it's frozen nitrogen surface being geologically active and full of cryovolcanoes, as well as being comprised of a water-ice crust and an atmosphere of nitrogen, with traces of carbon monoxide and methane, when suddenly, his analytical eyes noticed a significant trace of element zero energy that should not be there.

Located within the shadow of the ice giant's moon, but being significant distance away.

Studying it in much more further detail, he soon consulted his console, and found that it was not an anomaly, but really an element zero signature that could only belong to a ship.  
And there was only one sort of ship that could be out there, given that all the flotilla's vessels were accounted for.

It was time to report it in.  
"Sir, I have a possible Rachni Scout Ship sighting".

Immediately, his supervisor, Senior Operations Officer Sedlo Deakla, came over, and leaned in to see the readings on the console.  
Naturally, the supervisor was a bit skeptical, desiring a bit more hard proof before she would believe it credible, then take it up to the Captain.  
"Are you certain of this, Operator Officer Galrt? This could just be an undiscovered element zero cache that you've caught".  
"An undiscovered element zero cache that's constantly remaining within the shadow of the moon? I'll run another check again, but I'm pretty certain this is what we're looking for, Senior".

And after running the check again, the console produced the same result.

Taking the time to run it a third time, it again produced the same result, and Deakla was now convinced.

She took it up to the Captain, who soon had the _Talat's Sentinel_ on a heading towards the dark side of the ice giant's moon, to investigate.

But eventually, another Salarian working on another sensor console detected incoming objects.  
"TORPEDO! TORPEDO ON APPROACH!"

Commander Tepak took immediate action, "Activate Port-side Countermeasures!"

Immediately, two of the Talat's Sentinel's port side laser turrets activated, and started scanning for targets, and picked up the first torpedo.

But as the turret fired, another warning was shouted.  
"MORE TORPEDOES ON APPROACH! THREE OF THEM INBOUND!"

Tolos stepped in, "Calm yourself, operator. Now, activate the rest of the port side laser turrets".

Initially, as there had been only one torpedo fired, only two laser turrets were necessary, but with 3 of them following in quick succession, it was now necessary for all five port side laser turrets to come into play.

Tracking their targets, the lasers struck the first one, making it explode harmlessly before it got even close enough to do any damage to the _Talat's Sentinel_ , then the turrets got a lock on the second and third torpedoes. Firing their lasers, the second torpedo exploded harmlessly, while the third torpedo got deflected by the kinetic barriers.  
The forth torpedo, however, struck past the kinetic barriers and hit the Talat's Sentinel port side cannon, causing an explosion that not only wrecked the cannon, but compromised the starboard side cannon, and caused a fire in the torpedo compartment.  
Everyone working in the area, were either vented out into the cold, vacuum of space, or died from shrapnel or the explosion, or doing their utmost to survive by reaching their emergency rebreathers that'd allow them to breath in an area with no atmosphere. Once they equipped with rebreathers, they start working together in fighting the fires, and helping with the injured.

Back on the bridge, Tolos maintained his cool demeanour, calmly issuing orders, while he tapped the comms, and asked anyone down in the Gunnery Room for a damage report.  
" _Captain, we have multiple hull breeches! Loss of atmosphere! Significant damage to the cannons! And a fire in the torpedo compartment!_ "

Then, a Salarian working on one of the sensor consoles reported, "Captain, contact approaching from dark side of the moon. It's a Rachni Scout Ship, on intercept projectory with us".  
On the BattleSpace Table, Tolos and Tepak analysed the holographic projection of the _Talat's Sentinel_ , the _Kurinth's Keen Sight_ and the _Spirit of Xerksulus_ , as well as the Rachni Scout Ship, which was coming out of the moon's shadow and was approaching them.

Tolos asked, "Are we going to be able to return fire in our current state?"  
Tepak shook his head, "No, Captain. We're still dealing with significant damage in the Gunnery Room and they're still fighting a fire in the Torpedo Compartment. That'll take at least 3 minutes at best".  
"3 minutes which we do not have!", Tolos snapped.

Sighing, Tolos put a call for the _Kurinth's Keen Sight_ and the _Spirit of Xerksulus_ to take out the Rachni Scout Ship, as the _Talat's Sentinel_ 's weapons were currently inoperable at this time.  
Just as they were making this call, the Scout Ship fired more torpedoes, volley after volley.

While four torpedoes head for the _Spirit of Xerksulus_ , and four torpedoes headed for the _Kurinth's Keen Sight_ , four torpedoes were heading straight for the _Talat's Sentinel_.

While Tolos was certain that the _Spirit of Xerksulus_ and the _Kurinth's Keen Sight_ had functional defences that would fend off the torpedoes, the _Talat's Sentinel_ 's defences were compromised. The port side laser turrets were nonfunctional, due to the explosion and the hull breaches from earlier. And the starboard side laser turrets were unable to acquire all four torpedoes. All they could acquire, were two.  
And they certainly would not be able to turn the _Talat's Sentinel_ in time to destroy the remaining two torpedoes before they would hit.

So, all he could do, as the two torpedoes were destroyed and the other two headed for the _Talat's Sentinel_ , was shout over the comms, "ALL HANDS, BRACE FOR IMPACT!"

The two torpedoes struck, one impacting the kinetic barrier, allowing the second one to enter and hit the starboard side cannon, causing such significant damage to it and the hull.

Immediately, the _Kurinth's Keen Sight_ fired a volley of torpedoes at the Scout Ship, with the _Spirit of Xerksulus_ manoeuvring to fire it's cannons at the Scout Ship, which was now turning and moving towards the ice giant.  
The torpedoes and the cannon rounds, missed the Scout Ship, which was speeding away to the ice giant.  
Thus, Captains Kesth'ra and Vakarian ordered their ships to go pursue the Scout Ship, which was obviously putting more power into it's engines, as it was vastly out of range for the two cruisers in pursuit.

Eventually, the Scout Ship reached geostationary orbit over the ice giant's atmosphere, and turned to face it's weaponry against the two cruisers pursuing it.

And by the time the Scout Ship had it's rear to the ice giant, in effect, facing it's weaponry towards the two cruisers, those same cruisers had put some distance between each other, which presented a dilemma for the Rachni ship. Either attack one, or the other.

However, the Rachni were able to formulate a decision, and decided to commence attack on the _Spirit of Xerksulus_ , as it was the most deadliest threat to the Scout Ship compared to the _Kurinth's Keen Sight_.

Turning slightly to the right, the Scout Ship aimed it's cannons and waited for a targeting solution, equally aware that the longer they waited, it was time wasted that the cruisers used to get within range.

However, the Rachni Ship found a targeting solution, and fired 2 rounds.

The first round struck the kinetic barrier, while the second was targeted by it's laser turret defences, and destroyed.

The Scout Ship adjusted it's targeting solution and fired again, with it's first round striking the _Spirit of Xerksulus_ ' kinetic barriers and the second doing the same, only this time, the kinetic energy transferred by the second round managed to cause superficial damage to the _Spirit of Xerksulus_ , and short out the electrical systems on many of the decks, plunging the interior into darkness (until the emergency lightning came on) and shutting down some of the computers for a short while before they rebooted back online.

But by the time the Scout Ship began adjusting it's targeting solution, and readying it's torpedoes, the _Kurinth's Keen Sight_ got within range and fired it's torpedoes.

Four torpedoes traveled across the vacuum of space, on a heading for the Scout Ship, which fired it's own torpedoes at the _Spirit of Xerksulus_ (and had acquired the _Kurinth's Keen Sight_ also, as targets for half of the torpedoes).

The _Spirit of Xerksulus_ managed to destroy one torpedo with it's only functioning laser turret defence, while the _Kurinth's Keen Sight_ used it's laser turret defences to destroy the rest in quick succession.

And with that done, both cruisers returned fire, with cannon fire and volleys of torpedoes, which struck the Scout Ship's kinetic barriers, until the barriers were pounded enough that cannon rounds and torpedoes struck the Scout Ship, causing damage.  
Eventually, with significant damage to the Scout Ship, the cruisers closed in for the kill with more torpedoes and more cannon rounds striking the Scout Ship, further compromising it's structural integrity.

But as the Scout Ship, trailing a blazing smoke that was extinguishing itself in the vacuum of space, as pieces of it's hull started breaking apart, headed deeper into the atmosphere of the gas giant, the cruisers closed in for the kill.

Two torpedoes from the _Spirit of Xerksulus_ struck the Scout Ship, killing it's engines, leaving dead in space and adrift in orbit over the ice giant before it could make atmospheric entry.  
Then cannon rounds from the _Kurinth's Keen Sight_ started striking the Scout Ship, causing a massive explosion that ripped the ship apart.

On board the _Talat's Sentinel_ , Captain Tolos watched the BattleSpace Table displaying the Scout Ship breaking apart in orbit over the ice giant, and silence reigned over the bridge, until Tolos issued orders.

"Call the _Estivus Erax_. Tell Captain Nyx that it is to provide escort for the _Talat's Sentinel_. Then, issue orders to Kesth'ra and Vakarian. They are to investigate possible Rachni Scout Ship locations and engage Scout Ships at their own discretion. Tell them, also, that they will be on their own, so good luck".

* * *

 _Bridge, Athame's Wisdom class cruiser Kurinth's Keen Sight, on approach to Uranus, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way_.  
 _18th March, 1918 CE_.

Captain Ayssena Kesth'ra of the _Kurinth's Keen Sight_ , received a message on a possible Rachni Scout Ship sighting, near the second ice giant, the seventh planet in this system, and orders were given, for the cruiser to head out to the planet, at 38% above standard cruising speed.

But first, the _Kurinth's Keen Sight_ was investigating the furthest moon to the ice giant, which was rather small for a natural satellite and had massive cliffs and canyons all over it's surface.

Then suddenly, a call came out, "Captain! Possible Rachni contact. Hiding in the dark side of the nearby moon".

Kesth'ra frowned, as the previous Rachni Scout Ship had been hiding behind the moon's dark side, to avoid detection, and managed to deal some damage to the _Talat's Sentinel_ , and now she was convinced that this Scout Ship that they were detecting now, was now attempting to do the same.

However, Kesth'ra would not fall under the same trap.  
"Ready the torpedoes, load the cannons, and prepare for battle".

Down below decks, crew members were working on getting the torpedo bays and the cannons loaded, in peak efficiency, just like as they were trained.

And as soon as they reported that all torpedoes and cannons were ready and waiting, Kesth'ra had the _Kurinth's Keen Sight_ take an intercept course to the dark side of the moon, and wait and see what the Rachni will do next, whilst also adding, "As soon as that Scout Ship gets within range, fire at will".

As the _Kurinth's Keen Sight_ headed for the moon, a tense silence fell all across the bridge. A silence, with tension so big that a blade would have to cut it, that soon ended when they detected movement.

"Captain, Scout Ship confirmed! It's manoeuvring, reversing and turning to starboard".  
"Excellent. Now, get ready to open fire".

But the Scout Ship got away from the moon and moved closer to the ice giant, and towards a moon with a cratered terrain cross-cut with scarps, canyons and ridges.  
The _Kurinth's Keen Sight_ , in the middle of it's pursuit, lost contact with the Scout Ship as a transmission was being sent from the _Spirit of Xerksulus_ , and to maintain a clear transmission, the _Kurinth's Keen Sight_ held off the pursuit and held position.  
However, attempts to maintain a clear transmission failed, and Captain Kesth'ra ordered that the pursuit resume.

But the Scout Ship had a head-start and got off the first shot once the _Kurinth's Keen Sight_ came within range.

Cannon rounds headed straight for the Asari cruiser and struck the kinetic barriers, which held, then came 3 torpedoes.

But Kesth'ra responded and the laser turrets managed to stop the 3 torpedoes from dealing any damage to the ship.

Eventually, in this short engagement, the _Kurinth's Keen Sight_ got within range and unleashed torpedoes, which struck the barriers of the Scout Ship, before cannon rounds followed straight after, passing the kinetic barriers and ripped right through the ship, causing a massive explosion.

Now trailing smoke and fire, the Scout Ship turned and headed for the ice giant, but the Asari cruiser kept on firing, until one torpedo round struck the engines of the Scout ship, causing an overload that resulted in a massive internal explosion that blew the entire Scout Ship apart into little pieces.

The bridge and the crew decks of the _Kurinth's Keen Sight_ were filled with cheers and applause, until officers put a stop to it, reminding them to carry out their duties.

Captain Kesth'ra, having watched the Scout Ship being blown apart, turned to her First Officer,  
"Now, let's check in with the _Spirit of Xerksulus_ , see if Vakarian's had any success on his end".

* * *

 _Ship Operations Center, Spirit of Apparitus class cruiser Spirit of Xerksulus, in orbit over Saturn, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way_.  
 _18th March, 1918 CE_.

Captain Sydrus Vakarian stood on the platform observing the galaxy map, as it displayed the images of the Rachni Scout Ship breaking apart and falling into the atmosphere of the pale yellow gas giant.

The engagement had been pretty straightforward.

After losing clear communication with the _Kurinth's Keen Sight_ (Captain Vakarian having searched endlessly for the Scout Ship and deciding to check in with Captain Kesth'ra if she needed assistance), and failing to get any sort of communication to her, the _Spirit of Xerksulus_ decided to continue on with it's search.

The Scout Ship had been lying in wait, over the sixth planet's largest moon, then it opened fire with a volley of two torpedoes, one missing, the other clipping the starboard wing.  
Then the Scout Ship moved, trying to evade in the planetary ring, but Vakarian was persistent and kept pursuit, even as the Scout Ship fired off shots at the Turian cruiser, which had to use all the tricks in the book to evade and counter.

The Scout Ship had gotten fed up with trying to evade the cruiser in the planetary ring and headed for the planet, and the course projected, seemed to indicate that the Scout Ship was planning on entering the atmosphere of the gas giant.

However, the Spirit of Xerksulus managed to get off a shot from a torpedo, and since the kinetic shields had been lowered, seemingly to not let atmospheric entry slow it down, the Scout Ship was hit, and was forced to stop it's entry into the atmosphere. More torpedoes followed, and the Scout Ship broke apart into two, now breaking apart completely into multiple pieces and burning up in the atmosphere.

"Captain! Communications from the Kurinth's Keen Sight".  
"Put it through".

The voice of Captain Ayssena Kesth'ra came through the com-link,  
" _Captain Vakarian_?"  
"Captain Kesth'ra. How goes the pursuit?"  
" _One Rachni Scout Ship destroyed over on our end. What about you, Captain_?"

Smiling, Vakarian told her of his pursuit and eventual destruction of the Scout Ship, "Same here. It was quite a pursuit, wish you could have seen it".  
" _I'm sure. Anyway, Captain Tolos has gotten in communications with us. Told us that we need to rejoin with the Talat's Sentinel and the Estivus Erax, then continue on with the hunt_ ".  
"Understood. Captain Vakarian out".

Ending the transmission, Vakarian relayed orders for the _Spirit of Xerksulus_ to follow the _Kurinth's Keen Sight_ , which was now on a heading to rejoin with the _Talat's Sentinel_ and the _Estivus Erax_.  
Once they rejoined with the two cruisers, they could see that the _Talat's Sentinel_ was hanging back, with the _Estivus Erax_ holding in close formation, indicating that repairs to the _Talat's Sentinel_ were still ongoing.

And soon, the four cruisers continued on, heading out to hunt for the remaining Scout Ships, hoping for reinforcements to arrive to deal with the Rachni dreadnought, which was still out there.

* * *

 _Rachni Dreadnought, in orbit over Ceres, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way_.  
 _18th March, 1918 CE_.

The Rachni dreadnought, was using the system's local asteroid belt, located in between the fourth and fifth planets in the system, for cover from the flotilla, until they realised that the scout ships that it sent to investigate the two ice giants and the one gas giant, were dropping out of contact.

Soon, the Rachni determined that they were being destroyed, and reckoned that it would not be long before the Scout Ship sent to the fifth planet's moons would be destroyed, then the dreadnought and the last remaining Scout Ship, which was surveying the fourth planet in the system, would be the only Rachni ships in the system, and that even though the dreadnought itself outmatched the opposing cruisers in firepower, it knew that they could hold out long enough for reinforcements to arrive and destroy them.

And their mission was too important to get destroyed right now.

So, the dreadnought started to move, on a heading for the third planet in the system, where a recent finding from the last remaining scout ship have proven very interesting, to say the least.

* * *

 _Ship Operations Center, Estivus Erax class cruiser Estivus Erax, in orbit over Ganymede, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way_.  
 _18th March, 1918 CE_.

"One enemy Scout Ship destroyed".

The _Estivus Erax_ had done it's duties well, as it had managed to detect the Rachni scout ship over a heavily active volcanic moon, before it fired a set of torpedoes at the _Talat's Sentinel_. Captain Nyx had the _Estivus Erax_ manoeuvred to use it's laser turrets efficiently, then went in pursuit of the Scout Ship, which fled and attempted to lay an ambush over a very smooth moon, before taking a hit, which forced it to a moon with a magnetic field.

There, the Scout Ship fired back and the _Estivus Erax_ 's kinetic barriers held against the two torpedoes, before a cannon round pierced the port side of the cruiser, damaging the port-side cannon of the cruiser.  
However, the damage sustained, did not inhibit the ability of the _Estivus Erax_ to fight back, and soon, the Scout Ship was destroyed after a barrage of cannon rounds and torpedoes.

Captain Desolas Nyx, observing over the Galaxy Map, ordering the _Estivus Erax_ to return to protecting the _Talat's Sentinel_ , was now in the midst of sending a report to Captain Tolos.  
" _Excellent work, Captain Nyx. As soon as you can, maintain formation with us and we'll continue on with the hunt for the fifth Scout Ship_ ".  
"Understood, Captain. How are your repairs going?"  
" _Well, my engineers tell me that they've got the cannon parts replaced, and the cannons themselves repaired. All they're doing, is conducting a series of tests to ensure that everything works smoothly, so that once we go into action, the cannons will not just suddenly not work. But the torpedo compartment is damaged beyond repair. Torpedo thrusters are damaged, some of the torpedo guidance systems have significant damage to them and worse of all, the torpedo tube doors won't open. We could do some EVA work on the door, but we'd need to do that in a space dock, not in the midst of combat. So I'm just not taking the risk of a torpedo explosion_ ".

Nyx sympathised with Tolos, and said, "But at least things aren't terrible on your end, Captain Tolos".  
A sigh came from the Salarian, who said, " _I sure hope so. I just hope that we can fight effectively with just two cannons_ ".

But then, Nyx and Tolos' conversation was interrupted, by his First Officer, Commander Macen Pentalus, who was by a crew member working on a sensor console in the sensor trench,  
"Sir, this crew member has something you might want to see!"

Frowning, Captain Nyx had to excuse himself, which Captain Tolos nodded his head and ended the transmission, and headed over to the sensor trench.

Pentalus nodded to the crew member and said, "Show the Captain what you found, Junior".

Junior Ship's Mate Illo Arrakus, even though nervous as this was the first time he was in the attention of such senior officers like the Captain and the First Officer, relayed his findings, "Well, I was conducting a surveillance scan of the system's asteroid belt, when I detected a trace of mass effect energy", before trailing off as Nyx and Pentalus exchanged a look between one another.

But once they urged him to continue on, Illo resumed his findings, "So, I checked it out, thinking that it was a Rachni Scout Ship, only to discover that there were a lot more Mass Effect energy readings than what a Scout Ship should be giving off. And I mean, a lot more. I checked my readings and it took some time, given that it was within the asteroid belt, presumably to provide cover from our sensors, and the readings came back. I checked it and the only ship that could display such readings is..."  
Pentalus finished off that sentence, "A dreadnought. Are you certain?"  
A pause and, "Yes I am, sir. It's definitely a dreadnought".

Captain Nyx asked, "Where is it now?"  
"Apparently, it's moved on, deeper within the system".  
"Deeper within the system?"

Arrakus nodded, "Yes, Captain. The energy traces indicate that it stayed in position for quite some time, but has moved deeper into the system, presumably on a heading for the fourth planet, maybe the third...", before trailing off as the Captain and the First Officer turned and started whispering to each other.

Then, Desolas frowned,  
"I'm going to have to report this in".

And he did, with Tolos giving a frown of his own at this information.

A few moments of not saying anything, and Tolos broke the silence,  
" _Looks like the fifth Scout Ship will have to wait. We need to know where that dreadnought is heading to. Hopefully we can discover what the Rachni are up to. Either way, you better get yourself and your crew rested for tomorrow. It's going to be a long day tomorrow_ ".

As the communication ended (Tolos presumably now contacting the other Captains), Captain Nyx looked upon his crew in silence, watching them hard at work as they did their duties, and felt a slight apprehension what was about to come tomorrow.

Deciding that the next best thing to shake off that apprehension was to get some sleep, Desolas then called Macen over and told him that the majority of the crew was to stand down and take a break, with the Night Shift crew to take their place, up until 0600 hours tomorrow, and that he himself was going to get some sleep in his quarters.

Macen understood and said, "I have the ship until then, Captain. Good night, sir".  
Desolas nodded, and went into the elevator, heading for his private quarters.

* * *

 **Next chapter, we'll be finding out if the message sent by the Talat's Sentinel has reached the Citadel forces and we'll be seeing the buildup to the inevitable confrontation.**

 **In regards to the moons and planets described in this chapter, I left some descriptions that might give you clues on which ones they are. Can anyone find out what they are?**

 **Anyways, don't forget to leave a review whenever you can, and see you next time!**

 **Update (29/6/17): Did some restructuring of the chapter, trying to make the paragraphs not so bunched up. Special thanks to Apollonir for pointing this out. Also, changed and added some additional lines.**


	8. The Buildup

**Disclaimer: Mass Effect does not belong to me. It belong's to it's respective owners, namely Bioware.**

* * *

 _Strategy Room Two, Asari High Command, Athenita, Republic of Athena, Thessia, Parnitha System, Athena Nebula, Milky Way_.  
 _18th March, 1918 CE_.

Matriarch Velestila was curious as to why she had been summoned here, by Matriarch Telizima, the Supreme Commander of Asari High Command, herself. A summon by the Supreme Commander herself must mean that something big was going on.

And indeed it was, as she entered the strategy room, and found that it was in a very busy, hectic state. Aides, communications and intelligence specialists along with high-ranking military officers, were going from place to place.

But Velestila soon found who she was looking for.

Matriarch Telizima, flanked by two helmeted Huntresses with their rifles at the ready, was at the Strategic & Tactical Operations Table, where she was overlooking data on something in particular.

Velestila headed over to the table, and soon, Telizima's Huntresses, perked up at the new arrival.

As for Telizima herself, she finally looked up and saw Velestila.  
"Ah, Matriarch Velestila. I've been expecting you. Come, join me at the STRATOT. I'll get you fully briefed".

Joining the Supreme Commander at the STRATOT, Velestila asked, "What's going on, Telizima? Why all the sudden activity?"  
"Suluk Base, in the Hiwp'ilt System, picked an FTL transmission from the _Talat's Sentinel_ , a Salarian ship in charge of a flotilla assigned to investigate the recent appearance of an Rachni dreadnought in the Myrik'tah System, in the Arcturus Stream".

It was to Velestila's credit, that her face betrayed nothing, despite that inside, she was very, very curious at to the fate of one particular cruiser. Or more accurately, the fate of one individual within that cruiser.

However, her focus returned to Matriarch Telizima who then played the message.  
" _Emergency Message to Suluk Base: This is Captain Morik Tolos of the Talat's Sentinel in unchartered system beyond Relay 782, a relay that Rachni forces has been observed reactivating and using whilst in the Myrik'tah system, Arcturus Stream. Exited undiscovered Relay 207. Intentions of Rachni is still unknown. System is consisted of one dwarf planet, two ice giants, two gas giants, asteroid belt, four terrestrial planets, with accompanying natural satellites, all orbiting a yellow dwarf star.  
_ _Will attempt to isolate Rachni dreadnought by engaging and destroying Rachni scout ships. Requesting immediate reinforcements, to secure the system. Exceeding relay travel speed limits necessary, as time is of the essence. That is all_ ".

A brief pause and Velestila asked, "Any further messages from Captain Tolos or the rest of his flotilla?"  
Telizima's lip barely was able to conceal the scowl, "No, nothing".  
"That's quite troubling".  
"Indeed".

An sigh from Velestila and, "So, what's our plan in regards to this situation?"

Shaking her head, Telizima laid it down to her fellow Matriarch, "There's a lot I don't know, about what's going on with the Rachni heading to that system. So, I'm assembling a Task Force, to head to the system, to secure it and counter the Rachni threat in this unchartered system".  
Velestila's eyebrows rose. But before she could ask if that was necessary, Telizima raised a hand for silence, and explained her reasoning,  
"The Rachni could destroy those cruisers easily, settle themselves in the system, deploy Rachni on any of the planets and moons, and call for reinforcements. I rather not take any chances in regards to the Rachni".

Velestila knew that the responsibility for the appointed commander of the reinforcements, would be quite high, "An unchartered system, with little information on it, and where the Rachni are located and have intentions that we do not know. Such a daunting responsibility for the commander".  
"Indeed. And I have full confidence that you will be up to the challenge".  
At that, Velestila blinked, and was pretty sure that she misheard her fellow Matriarch.

However, Matriarch Telizima was not one to repeat herself, and instead, said with resolution, "Matriarch Velestila, I assign you the command of the Tenth Task Force".  
It took all of Velestila's control as a Matriarch to not gape like a Maiden at her superior, as she had not been expecting such an assignment. Instead, she asked how big the Tenth Task Force was, and was handed a datapad by Telizima.

Looking at the numbers, Velestila's eyebrows rose, and before she could ask the question, Telizima held up a hand for silence, and answered the question before it could be asked, knowing what she was going to ask.  
"I've already consulted with the Matriarchs, and the Council. They've agreed, after some reluctance, to send the ships to secure the system".

Velestila, even though satisfied that that Matriarchs and the Council knew what they were doing in authorising such a deployment, still felt a bit of unease, which Telizima picked up, "Are you okay? With your assignment? I do assure you that I have full confidence in your abilities, Velestila".  
Shaking her head, Velestila assured her superior, "No, it's nothing to do with that, it's just, my daughter..."

Understanding fell upon Telizima, and she felt obliged to provide some consolation, "I understand. Even though you two are not talking with each other, I do understand, as a mother myself, that you are allowed to worry for her", before her face turned stern and she asked, "But as a Matriarch, and your superior, can I count on you to do your duty?"

Velestila, forced herself to shelve her motherly concern for her daughter, and put it to one side, as she responded, "You can count on me, Telizima. When do I leave?"  
"A shuttle has been dispatched to High Command, and will take you to your flagship, Matriarch Velestila. May the Goddess send good fortune onto you".

With that, Velestila knew that she was dismissed and set out to get everything ready, before she reached her flagship.

But even as Velestila started to get everything ready, she couldn't help but feel a sense of worry, as her thoughts pondered over her daughter, Trileena Navuris.  
Despite the two of them not being close together anymore, Velestila still kept tabs on Trileena and her whereabouts, her position in Asari High Command being very helpful in that regard.  
The last she knew of Trileena's location, was that her Huntress unit, the 147th, were stationed on the Kurinth's Keen Sight, one of the ships sent to investigate.

However, she knew that her daughter's fate was not in her hands, and instead, put her motherly instincts to one side, as she was informed that her shuttle had arrived.

* * *

 _Rachni dreadnought, in orbit over Earth, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way_.  
 _19th March, 1918 CE_.

The Rachni dreadnought, started applying counter thrust, as it disengaged the thrust of it's engines, and was turning to port.

Scanning for a viable target of interest, the Rachni dreadnought found a perfect geological site, in between a mountain range and a drainage divide between the northern geographic pole of the planet, and the planet's largest area of water (with an area of 64,000,000 square miles).  
The deep space probe sent here ten years ago, had indeed been lucky to find such system, and indeed, such a planet.

Now in geostationary orbit, the dreadnought had it's stern facing the planet, it's forward guns now facing outwards, where it clearly had the advantage against the 4 cruisers hunting it down.

* * *

 _Bridge, Aifa's Endurance class cruiser Talat's Sentinel, passing the orbit of Mars, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way_.  
 _19th March, 1918 CE_.

The pursuit of the Dreadnought, had taken over a day and a half, and now, it would end over the third planet in this system.

Tolos and Tepak observed the galaxy map, "So it seems that they came for this particular planet".  
"But why? What sort of value does this planet have?"

That question, was answered when an operator called out,  
"Sir, if my readings are correct, there is a sentient species living on that planet".

A sharp look and silence fell, until the Captain asked, "Population?"  
"Around 1 billion, give or take".  
"Technological state?"  
"Pre-spaceflight, it seems. No sign of debris from space launches, manned or unmanned".

Tolos put a hand up to his chin, deep in thought, as a new complication arose. The readings that they had taken when entering the system, had not picked up any signs of sentient species, and now he was going to have to take into account that any action he took, would have to make sure that the natural development of the species down below, would not be tampered with.  
They'd have to be **very** careful here.

Conferencing with the other Captains, Tolos relayed the situation, and decided to hear the opinions of the others, before getting into the upcoming engagement with the dreadnought.

"So, the dreadnought, now is holding defensive position over the planet. That in effect, means it's deciding the terms of engagement, and we are at an disadvantage, for we cannot idly blind-fire cannon rounds and torpedoes at the dreadnought, as they'd likely miss and strike at the surface of the planet, causing untold consequences to the natural development of the species down below".  
" _Then we better make sure that we don't miss, won't we_?"  
All the other Captains sent a sharp look at Captain Vakarian, who only shrugged and said, " _Well, we can't just let the dreadnought take pot-shots at us and we can't fire back. No, we have to take the initiative and not let the Rachni choose the engagement any way they like. If we're lucky, we can do some damage to the dreadnought that will force it to come after us, into an ambush..._ "  
Kesth'ra cut in, " _That's easier said than done, Sydrus. The time for firing solutions and target guidance, at that range, well, the dreadnought will not give us that amount of time. And I severely doubt that we'll be able to draw the dreadnought out into an ambush_ ".  
Nyx shook his head, " _No. The dreadnought will not get itself into an ambush. And even if it did, we'd stand no chance against it. Not even to make any sort of meaningful dent to it_ ".

Then, an operator called out, "Scout Ship on approach, Captain".

All Captains exchanged looks, as for all the preparation for the confrontation with the dreadnought, the fifth Scout Ship had seemingly been forgotten.  
Commander Tepak, standing to one side as he oversaw Tolos speaking with the other Captains, then asked the operator where the Scout Ship was coming from, and the operator replied,  
"It's coming from the dark side of the planet's single moon".

Tolos' next order was immediate,  
"Captain Nyx, the _Estivus Erax_ is the closest ship to intercept the Scout Ship. You are to engage and destroy the Scout Ship before it gets within range".

* * *

 _Ship Operations Center, Estivus Erax class cruiser Estivus Erax, in orbit over Luna, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way_.  
 _19th March, 1918 CE_.

Desolas ordered that an intercept course be laid into navigation.

Soon, the _Estivus Erax_ was enroute to intercept the Scout Ship, but in the meantime, he got onto the ship's communications, broadcasting a shipwide message,  
"Now, hear this. This is Captain Nyx speaking. The fifth Rachni Scout Ship has been sighted, and Captain Tolos has given us the distinct honor in destroying it. And we shall oblige him. Battle Stations!"

As he finished off the message, Desolas could feel the rush of energy down below the decks as crew members left and right were heading to their duty stations.

As the galaxy map displayed the _Estivus Erax_ , as well as the Rachni Scout Ship and the moon, Captain Nyx was aware that he was about to get within weapons range and called out,  
"Ready a volley of three torpedoes. Narrow-Spread Attack Mode. Fire when ready".

Time passed, as both ships got closer and closer to weapons range, and everyone on the _Estivus Erax_ was awaiting to see who would shoot first.

Luckily, the _Estivus Erax_ managed to get in range first, and fired a volley of three torpedoes, which focused on a certain point on the ship.

Due to the closeness of the torpedoes, the first struck the kinetic barriers of the Scout Ship, and so did the second, which allowed the third torpedo to pass right through and strike right through the Scout Ship, causing a hull-breech.

The Gunnery room announced, " _Captain, we have a firing solution with the cannons_ ".  
Thanking the spirits that the repairs to the port-side cannon have gone smoothly, enabling it to work again after yesterday, Desolas immediately ordered, "Fire at will!"

And immediately, two rounds streaked across the vacuum of space to strike at the Scout Ship. However, the Scout Ship moved to evade, and only one round struck, managing to get through the kinetic barriers, which were fluctuating due to significant damage.  
The other round, missed, and instead struck the moon, causing a massive explosion on the surface.

Captain Nyx, as he prepared for the Scout Ship to strike back, and for him and his crew to hopefully survive, in order to come up with his next move, then formulated a plan of attack, then opened up comms to the torpedo compartment, "Load three more torpedoes. Widespread Attack Mode this time. Once we unleash our cannons, we'll fire the torpedoes".

Down below decks, the three torpedoes were loaded in, their targeting systems changed to a Widespread Attack Mode, which meant that the torpedoes would spread out and focus their attacks over a wide area.

A firing solution was acquired, and the cannons let rip, with two rounds striking the Scout Ship and ripping right through the decks, causing damage to spread across the ship. Then, launched from their torpedo tubes, the three torpedoes headed towards the Scout Ship, and only one struck the now faltering kinetic barriers, whilst the two went past and caused massive explosions throughout the ship.

With this, the Scout ship was in the midst of breaking apart, and as they fired their own torpedoes, the structural integrity of the ship was starting to break apart.

The Rachni torpedoes were targeted by the laser turrets, in which two were destroyed, but the third, which got past the turrets, headed for the _Estivus Erax_ and instead, struck the kinetic barriers.

The cruiser, retaliated by unleashing more cannon fire at the Scout Ship, which could not take any more punishment, and soon, damage to the engines caused an internal explosion in the Scout Ship, which sent debris spewing outwards in all directions.

However, the Scout Ship was not out, as it still had functioning weaponry.  
Two torpedoes fired and made for the _Estivus Erax_ , which manoeuvred to get it's laser turrets acquire the torpedoes.  
But the torpedoes managed to close up with the cruiser, and strike, the first hitting the kinetic barriers, and the second one striking near the port-side laser turrets, wrecking them all.

With the cruiser recovering from the blow sustained, the Scout Ship attempted to get another volley of three torpedoes, before the Turians could retaliate.  
But however, damage to the ship was extensive and the damage included their torpedoes, so when they loaded one damaged torpedo, and fired all three torpedoes, the one torpedo exploded, causing further catastrophic damage, which disabled the weapons of the Scout Ship.

With this crippling blow, the scout ship was defenceless against the onslaught of the _Estivus Erax_ , which unleashed it's full firepower onto the Scout Ship, and pretty soon, every strike that feel upon the Scout Ship, caused the engines to suddenly overload and thus, caused a massive explosion that erupted right through the ship, destroying it.

As an awestruck silence fell upon the Ship Operations Center as the galaxy map displayed the images of the aftermath of the explosion, Captain Nyx then said to Macen and telling him, "Send a report to _Talat's Sentinel_. Tell Captain Tolos that fifth Scout Ship has been destroyed. Dreadnought is now isolated, as per his request. Now, awaiting your battle plan. Captain Nyx out".

And with that message sent, it was several moments before Desolas got a reply from Tolos.

Macen read it out,  
"Message reads as follows; _Congratulations on successful objective. The Easy part is over. Now the hard part begins. Prepare yourselves accordingly. Talat's Sentinel out_ ".

Once the message was read out, Desolas took sight of all the crew in the Ship Operations Center, working dutifully at their stations.

Time seemed to pause as he sighed softly to himself and closed his eyes, wondering how many would die in the upcoming engagement.

Desolas was not fooling himself. He knew that there was going to be a very slim chance of him or his crew or even his ship coming out alive.  
And even though hope was in short supply during this war, he still found it in himself, to pray to the Spirits (not something he did often) for he and his crew, to at least make a difference in the battle that was to come.

"Captain Nyx, sir?"

Opening his eyes, Desolas looked upon Macen, who was looking upon his Captain in concern, and smiled to offset his worries, saying "It's alright, Commander. Just thinking".

"About something in particular, sir?"

Thoughts went straight to the memories of a someone, who was waiting for him on Taetrus, Nyx nodded, "Yes", before reminiscing softly, "Her smile, could brighten up my day when I was feeling down. Every time, whenever my day felt bad. Her eyes, could make me forget, of all the loneliness that space can bring to a Captain, and make me forget, of all the explosions, the alarms, the vibrations and the sounds of a warship..."

Shaking himself from the thoughts of his wife, Desolas turned to look upon his First Officer, asking, "What about you, Macen? What are you thinking about?"

Opening his mouth and closing it, several times, his First Officer then said after some hesitation, "With respect, sir, it can wait. This is hardly an appropriate time".  
"On the contrary, for we're about to go up against a dreadnought. I'd say it's the perfect time to say what's on your mind. Speak freely with me, you know that, don't you?"

Macen Pentalus nodded his head, and took a deep breath, before he said, "I was, just thinking, about the sunset at Cipritine. Marderia and I took Krennavus to the city, on our last leave. We spent so much time in the city, Trebia was falling below the horizon, and it was only until we reached Avitus Heights, when my wife told me to actually take a look at the sunset.  
She always said I spent so long in space, that I never took a look at a sunset for once in my life. I look a look, and there it was. Trebia, falling down below the horizon, lighting up the sky in beautiful colour before the darkness came".  
Then, much to Desolas' surprise, he could see inklings of a tear, fall from Macen's eyes, as he started to finish his story, "And Krennavus, oh his giggling and his joy in the small things, I sure wish I could be more of a father to him, more than the occasional visits from leave..."

Seeing that Macen, unable to continue on with his story, was in pain, facing the prospect of certain death and the potential of leaving his 2 year old son to grow up without a father, Desolas patted his shoulder and said, "Do not fear. Never falter in the duty set upon you, and if you are to pass, pray that the spirits will allow you to guide your son to great things".

His First Officer, wiping away his small tears with vigour, nodded his head, and said with conviction, "Don't worry, Captain. I'll do my duty".

Captain Desolas Nyx smiled, "I know you will, Commander. I know you will".

* * *

 _Bridge, Pillar of Armali class dreadnought Pillar of Polos, assembling in orbit over Sotera, Vernio System, Athena Nebula, Milky Way_.  
 _19th March, 1918 CE_.

Matriarch Velestila stood at the bridge of the _Pillar of Polos_ , alongside the Captain, Palantis Atandra.

Even after hours, settling into her new duty as commander of the Tenth Task Force, Velestila still couldn't believe the numbers of this Task Force, which was big enough by some, to be a Fleet of it's own.

Around 10 dreadnoughts, 27 cruisers, 42 frigates, 23 corvettes and 19 Elcor transports (to carry the troops), and Asari, Salarian, Turian, Elcor, Hanar, Krogan and Quarian contingents.

Matriarch Arrteria, commanded the Asari contingent, so to allow Matriarch Velestila to command the entirety of the Task Force without the strain and pressure of commanding a contingent. From the _Pillar of Polos_ , she also commanded 5 cruisers, 15 frigates, and 6 corvettes, along with thirteen Huntress units (The 73rd, the 92nd, the 109th, the 134th, the 161st, the 170th, the 188th, the 205th, the 211th, the 222nd, the 303rd, the 445th and the 510th).

Rear Admiral Padok Qywils, commanded the Salarian contingent on his flagship, the Pranas class dreadnought _Mannovai_ , 3 cruisers, 9 frigates and 8 corvettes, along with the 10th and 84th Manoeuvre Divisions, and the 12th Infiltration Regiment, Special Tasks Group.

Admiral Tythamus Ullrix, Velestila's second in command, also commanded the Turian contingent, from his own flagship, the Spirit of Pallamux class dreadnought _Spirit of Gentarix_ , while General Varlyx Tarradus, the second in command of the Turian contingent, commanded all Turian ground forces. Apart from 3 dreadnoughts (The _Spirit of Gentarix_ 's sister ships, the _Spirit of Taetrus_ and _Spirit of Digeris_ ), the Turians also had 6 cruisers, 6 frigates, 6 corvettes and the 47th Legion.

Admiral Eyltn, commanded the Elcor contingent, mainly from the Phontes class cruiser _Lenuamund_ , which was the Elcor's only combat vessel in the Tenth Task Force, whilst the Nurhemathun Division, their sole combat unit in the contingent, was being transported via Elcor Transport _9381_.

Admiral Gahaloon, his Soul name being Holds-Perservence-in-Regards, commanded the Hanar contingent, consisted of the Artefact class cruiser _Strong Rock_ , 2 Hanar frigates, 3 Hanar corvettes and three Drell Specialist Detachments (the 9th, the 14th and the 86th).

Warlord Jorgal Rurgak, had been appointed the commander of the Krogan contingent. 3 Wrath of Tuchanka class dreadnoughts (the flagship _Wrath of Jorgal_ , and sister ships, _Wrath of Urdnot_ and _Wrath of Nakmor_ ), 6 cruisers, and the 104th Division (which was commanded by Battlelord Nakmor Truesh), which had a quantity of Vorcha present as well.

Admiral Diyel'Calanis nar Rannoch, commanded the Quarian contingent from the Keenah class dreadnought _Yahkaq_ , which was accompanied by it's sister ship, the _Kana'murah_ , 5 Quarian cruisers, 10 Quarian frigates, the 26th and 35th Marine Divisions, and the 817th Geth Group.

"Matriarch, the Tenth Task Force is ready to depart on your command".

Taking a look at Captain Atandra, Matriarch Velestila nodded and asked, "Have the coordinates been set?"  
"Yes they have".

Nodding her head, Matriarch Velestila then issued the orders, "All ships, make for the Myrik'tah System".

As the Tenth Task Force moved out of their orbit from Sotera, they headed onto a course for the Mass Relay, where they then plotted a destination to another Mass Relay, before they began the jump which would mark the beginning of a journey that no one on the Task Force could have foreseen...

* * *

 **And so, with the four cruisers nearing Earth, a confrontation between them and the dreadnought is oncoming, while reinforcements are inbound. Can they reach them in time?**  
 **Well, you'll just have to wait and see!**

 **Matriarch Velestila is a character to definitely look out for, considering that she is Trileena's mother. Definitely some back story with them, so stay tuned in regards to those two!**

 **In regards to the torpedoes attack modes, the Turian torpedoes have a guidance system in which they work together and coordinate with one another, so when three torpedoes are launched, those same three torpedoes will work together in reaching their target, their computers telling each other where each other is, as they also project a course enroute to their target. Just something I made up.**

 **Anyways, don't forget to leave a review whenever you can, and see you next time!**


	9. The Battle over Luna

**Disclaimer: Mass Effect does not belong to me. It belongs to it's respective owners, namely Bioware.**

* * *

 _Rachni Dreadnought, in orbit over Earth, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way_.  
 _19th March, 1918 CE_.

The Dreadnought, holding position over the Earth, suddenly diverted their attention from the planet below, when they lost contact with the Scout Ship, which had been maintaining it's position over the planet's only natural satellite, which was 1.28 light-seconds away.

Refocusing their attention onto the moon, the dreadnought could see them.  
The four cruisers, in close formation, were now on an approach to begin the engagement against the dreadnought, which was still holding position over the planet in a perfect defensive position, it's guns all loaded and ready to fire.

Soon, the dreadnought started acquiring target solutions, and noticed that the four cruisers were also acquiring targeting solutions as well.  
It was now a matter of who got the shot off first, and the dreadnought was the first to get off a shot.

However, due to the targeting solution put in, the first shot was easily missed and the ships scattered, spreading themselves apart from one another.

* * *

 _Bridge, Aifa's Endurance class cruiser Talat's Sentinel, in orbit over Luna, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way_.  
 _19th March, 1918 CE_.

Tolos' frown is what caught Tepak's attention, and he asked, "Something the matter, Captain?"

Exchanging a moment to look at his First Officer, he said, "Yes. The dreadnought had every change to destroy us in one swift stroke. But it only fired one. One shot that we easily evaded. And they didn't follow up with more. So, what are they up to?"  
Commander Tepak answered with one fact that was apparent to him, "Well, if they've succeeded in one thing, they've split us up so much that we cannot support each other...", before he noticed that the Captain took on a look of realisation, that turned into horror.  
"The dreadnought, it's split us up so it could take us out, one at a time!"

Immediately, he ordered, "Engines full ahead! Evasive manoeuvres!"

However, the target that the dreadnought had selected, was the _Talat's Sentinel_ itself.  
And the Dreadnought had fired a total of 10 rounds at the cruiser.

Ordering all defences online, Captain Morik Tolos knew it would not stop all of them.

As he watched the defences destroy the first 5 rounds, he did contemplate on getting him and his crew to the escape pods, but realised that it was a inevitable conclusion, that he and his crew would all die before they even got to them.  
But just before the inevitable, he turned to Commander Jurlo Tepak and said, "Commander, it's been a privilage, having you as my First Officer".  
"The honor, was all mine, Captain".

And within 10 seconds, the sixth, seventh and eighth rounds struck the _Talat's Sentinel_ , penetrating the hull, and causing a catastrophic explosion that totally vaporised the cruiser and all it's personnel within.

All that was left, of the _Talat's Sentinel_ , were mere fragments of ship's hull, that would float aimlessly in space as junk.

* * *

 _Ship Operations Center, Spirit of Apparitus class cruiser Spirit of Xerksulus, in orbit over Luna, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way_.  
 _19th March, 1918 CE_.

"Sir, _Talat's Sentinel_ has been destroyed! Scans indicate no escape pods launched and no survivors".

Captain Sydrus Vakarian rolled his eyes, as he watched the proceedings on the galaxy map, and shouted, "Yes, I'm aware of that, thank you very much for pointing out the very obvious, Operator!", before then saying, "Now get me Captain Kesth'ra and Captain Nyx, immediately!"

And soon, communications were on with the other two Captains and they started getting to work at coordinating with one another, which they knew, had to be done quickly as the dreadnought would soon launch another attack.

Kesth'ra was the first to speak, " _Alright, we need to work out a way to survive before that dreadnought annihilates us all. Any suggestions, Captains?_ "  
Nyx was the first to answer, " _We could always retreat to behind the moon, and let the dreadnought come into an ambush_ ".  
" _That'll be impossible. The dreadnought is in an ideal position to defend itself, and it'll not move from that position. Besides, the Rachni will obviously know that it's a trap and will not spring it. They aren't stupid_ ".  
Then, Vakarian came up with a solution fast, "How about we slingshot around the planet's moon and fire rounds and torpedoes, in the hope of doing some damage to the dreadnought's weapon systems? We could at least buy us some time. Enough time for the reinforcements to arrive".  
Nyx was skeptical, " _But they won't reach us in time, and besides we haven't got the firepower to break through the dreadnought's kinetic barriers. If we had the Talat's Sentinel with us, maybe we could have had a chance, but now..._ ".  
Vakarian however, was insistent, "We still have to try, at least. And as for the reinforcements, we need to launch a distress beacon".  
At this, Kesth'ra spoke to someone off screen, before then saying, " _I'm going to get the distress beacon ready to launch_ ".  
Vakarian nodded, "Good work, Kesth'ra".  
" _But, in the meantime, we do need to buy time. Just for us to even survive. Let's begin a slingshot around the..._ ",  
The conversation between the Captains was interrupted when an sensor console operator called out, "Torpedoes incoming! Torpedoes incoming!"

Immediately, Vakarian ordered defences be activated and power put into the kinetic barriers, as he saw on the Galaxy Map around five torpedoes, heading straight for the _Spirit of Xerksulus_.  
Three torpedoes were destroyed, two by the laser turrets while one struck the kinetic barriers, while two torpedoes went right through and caused massive explosions that ripped holes in the hull, quite near the Ship Operations Center.

Captain Vakarian, on a very heavily damaged Ship Operations Center, got into contact with the other Captains, "We've taken heavy damage to our hull and we've lost all but one laser turret, and our kinetic barriers projectors are wrecked. If we're going to do our slingshot, we gonna need to do it quick".

With all the Captains acknowledging, all the ships were now putting full power into the engines, making full haste to slingshot around the moon.

But however, as they reached the proximity of the moon, the dreadnought launched another set of torpedoes, around 24 of them, all heading for the three cruisers, which by the time the torpedoes caught up with the cruisers, they were to cross into the dark side of the moon, and make their slingshot projectory.  
The torpedoes were still enroute to their targets, with 6 heading for the _Spirit of Xerksulus_ , 7 heading for the _Estivus Erax_ and 4 heading for the _Kurinth's Keen Sight_ , when the cruisers crossed into the dark side of the moon, being completely engulfed in darkness.

However, the torpedo did not require visual sight and so would still hit their target if nothing was done.

The _Spirit of Xerksulus_ was lagging behind, it's engine thrust output not as high as the other cruisers due to previous damage, and Captain Vakarian ignored the shocked outbursts from the other Captains when he manoeuvred the _Spirit of Xerksulus_ to make a hard left twist, basically turning the vessel to the left and increasing elevation of the starboard side.  
Before the torpedoes came in, Captain Vakarian then said to the other Captains, "It's now up to you, Captains. Good luck and may the Spirits guide you", before cutting transmission, and then, saying to his crew, who were still dutifully working at their stations, but still listening, "Sons, Daughters of Palaven, it's been an honour, to have you under my command".

Meanwhile the one remaining laser turret, had acquired one torpedo, destroyed it, and began to acquire the next one, only just destroying it in time, but enabling the four remaining torpedoes to strike the _Spirit of Xerksulus_.  
One by one, the torpedoes impacted the cruiser, two right in the engines, one going right through the starboard wing and one very close to the Ship Operations Center, killing much of the crew there, including Captain Sydrus Vakarian.  
And soon enough, damage to the engines was so extensive, that energy levels were building up to dangerous levels within the engine room.

Despite efforts from the engineers to fix it, 6 torpedoes that were heading for the two other cruisers found the _Spirit of Xerksulus_ within their tracks, and could not avoid it in time, so they instead continued on course, and slammed right into the cruiser, the explosions causing the drive core to overload, far too quickly for them to do anything, and soon, an massive explosion erupted right through the ship, destroying it.

On board the _Estivus Erax_ , Captain Nyx and Commander Pentalus closed their eyes, in respect to Captain Sydrus Vakarian and the crew of the _Spirit of Xerksulus_ , as the galaxy map displayed the images of the explosion that had erupted right behind the two cruisers.

But they soon quickly got to business when they spotted 2 torpedoes heading for _Kurinth's Keen Sight_ and 4 torpedoes heading for the _Estivus Erax_.

Getting into contact with Captain Kesth'ra, Desolas advised to get targeting solutions ready for the dreadnought, while he did the same.  
Kesth'ra nodded, and asked, " _Alright, what are our targets?_ "  
Desolas turned to Macen and told him to bring up analysis of the Rachni dreadnought.

Doing so, his First Officer soon started analysing the dreadnought, and with the Captain helping along, as well as Captain Kesth'ra offering advice, found potential targets.  
"The starboard cannons. That's our target. If we can hit them, we can do a bit more damage to more weapon systems in our attack runs, buy us enough time to survive out there until the reinforcements arrive".

Captain Nyx asked, "Any objections?"  
Kesth'ra shook her head, instead settling for " _Let's get on with it then_ ".

Throughout the two cruisers, the orders were given,  
"Ready all guns and torpedoes!"

And soon, as rounds and torpedoes were primed, ready and loaded, the two cruisers began their attack, by getting into attack formation, with the operators told to acquire targeting solutions as soon as the dreadnought appeared in visual range.  
Then, as the third planet and the dreadnought, appeared over the horizon, the operators acquired targeting solutions over the starboard cannons of the dreadnought, and the Captains soon gave the order,  
"Open fire!"

Both the _Estivus Erax_ and the _Kurinth's Keen Sight_ , fired their cannons (firing 2 rounds each), then launched their torpedoes (5 launched from each cruiser), which all streaked across the gulf of space, closing the distance between themselves and the dreadnought, which made no attempt to defend itself.  
But while the cannon rounds struck the massive kinetic barriers, they enabled the torpedoes to get past the kinetic barriers and cause significant damage to the starboard cannons.

Even though the crew of the cruisers cheered, their Captains knew it wasn't over yet, and just as they were about to make another slingshot attack, the dreadnought launched 10 torpedoes, 5 heading for the _Estivus Erax_ and 5 heading for the _Kurinth's Keen Sight_.

Soon, they managed to reach the cruisers, and even though the laser defences and kinetic barriers destroyed most of the torpedoes, one or two still caused significant damage to both cruisers.  
The Captains knew that they would not keep this up for long, and Captain Kesth'ra knew it was time to get that distress beacon launched, while they still had time.

* * *

 _Athame's Wisdom class cruiser Kurinth's Keen Sight, in orbit over Luna, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way_.  
 _19th March, 1918 CE_.

Lieutenant Trileena Navuris walked down the wrecked corridors of the _Kurinth's Keen Sight_ , as fast as she could, with an injured crew member leaning onto her, arm slung across her shoulders and all, and both Keilgara and Chethra doing the same, heading to the shuttle bay, where the rest of the 147th were, as well.

Alarms were blaring at their loudest level, as fire and smoke spread in the corridors, and it was getting hard to breath in some places, so much so, that they got their rebreather masks on.

Seeing this, Trileena put on her helmet, and was satisfied as the HUD showed that the seals were functioning properly.

Reaching the shuttle bay, waiting medics took the crew member from Trileena, and attended to Keilgara and Chethra's injured crew members, taking them from their arms as well.

Soon enough, the three Huntresses were fast at work helping along wounded crew members towards the shuttle bay, when a voice came calling for them.  
Looking up and turning, Trileena, Keilgara and Chethra saw Major Arvena Thanoptis approaching them.

When the three of them saluted her, Major Thanoptis waved them off, and Trileena saw fit to report on their current situation, "Major, we're were just helping with the evacuation and...", before being cut off by the Major raising her hand for silence.

Then the Major said, "I've just been in contact with the bridge. They just finished up a message to the distress beacon and were about to launch when they sustained damage. They cannot launch the beacon from the bridge, and anyone close enough to the beacon is dead. Therefore, the task has fallen upon us, and I'm sending you, Lieutenant Navuris, to get to the Distress Beacon, and launching it".  
"Understood, Major".  
"It's a big task, and all our lives are depending on you. Can I count on you, Lieutenant?"  
"Yes".  
"Good. Now, get down to the beacon, we don't have much time. Hurry!"

At this, Trileena soon headed down to where the actual distress beacon was, all the while recalling from memory, the entire internal layout of the ship.

However, it was more difficult than expected, as many corridors were full of fires and non-functioning doors, so she had to take an unconventional route, by going below decks, to the engine room, and then crawling through ducts to get to the room that she needed to go.

After much crawling around the ducts, Trileena reached the room, where the distress beacon was in the tube, awaiting to be launched.

Reaching the controls near the tube, Trileena got into contact with the bridge.  
"Okay, bridge, this is Lieutenant Trileena Navuris at the distress beacon. Now, what shall I do?"  
A pause before, " _Alright, Lieutenant, now listen closely, because we don't have a lot of time, and I'm not going to repeat myself_ ".  
With Trileena replying in an affirmative, the other side of the comm-link soon got to work, " _Good, now, first things first, we're going to need you to open the tube hatch, which will allow the distress beacon to be launched. It's done by a lever quite near you. Do you see it?_ "  
Trileena saw it, and said so to the bridge, before saying "I'm going to pull it".  
The voice stopped her before she did so, " _First, before you do that, you need to release the five safety pins on the lever, that'll enable you to pull it, and open the tube hatch. Understood, Lieutenant?_ "  
"Yes".

With that, Trileena headed over to the lever, and started pulling out the safety pins on the lever, one by one, before she then pulled the lever down.  
" ** _DISTRESS BEACON TUBE DOOR OPEN_** ".

Then she headed back to the controls and got back in contact with the bridge,  
"Done".  
" _Alright. Now, you're going to need to input a set of numbers into the controls, before the Beacon can be launched. Now use the controls to begin the launch_ ".  
Pressing the controls, the console then told her to input the numbers, and Trileena relayed all this to the bridge.  
" _Good, now input the first set of numbers, but you need to listen to every number I say_ ".  
Acknowledging, Trileena soon started inputting the numbers that were said to her over on comms, and continued doing so, until the console acknowledged and the distress beacon, launched, rapidly leaving the tube right before her very eyes.  
" ** _DISTRESS BEACON LAUNCHED_** ".

"Bridge, this is Lieutenant Trileena Navuris! Distress beacon has been launched! I repeat, distress beacon has been launched!"  
"Alright, well done, Lieutenant, now..."  
Static, and despite repeated attempts from Trileena, she couldn't raise the bridge again.

More explosions shook the ship, and soon, the Captain came onto the shipboard address,  
" **All hands, abandon ship! All hands, abandon ship!** "

Eyes widening, knowing that the situation was that desperate, Trileena soon started making her way out and got onto the comms with Major Thanoptis, "Major, they're abandoning the ship…."  
" _Yes, I know, Lieutenant. I don't know how long this ship's going to last, but we cannot afford to wait for you. Find an nearby escape pod, and head to the nearby moon, and we'll await rescue_ ".  
" _For how long, Major_?"  
" _For as long as it takes, now go, Lieutenant_!"

With the Major cutting off the comms, Trileena started to quicken her pace, as she crawled through the ducts.  
Leaving the last of the ducts, then exiting the engine room, Trileena soon navigated her way through the labyrinth of wrecked corridors to a section of escape pods.

It wasn't easy. Some corridors were blocked by debris or fire or both, forcing her to try longer routes around, but as she went through one corridor, which she knew, was close to the section of escape pods, a light exploded above her head, and Trileena had to duck her head to get out of the way, before continuing onwards.

Then, around the corner, there they were, a row of around five escape pods, and people were getting into four of them, and closing their doors (meaning that the maximum capacity of the pods was full on the four pods).  
So Trileena headed to an escape pod that was the furthest one, and seeing as there was no one else coming, shut the door and began inputting commands into the pod (skipping the automatic launch, and instead going for a guided launch).  
Setting a course for the moon, Trileena was advised to get herself into a safety harness, and therefore, she locked herself in.

And just in time too, as the explosions that she had been feeling off in the distance, were starting to become way much more frequent and more violent.  
Thus she reckoned that the ship was not going to hold out much longer, so he issued the command for the pod to launch.

And immediately, she felt herself being pushed to one side, as the main thrusters expelled the pod from the cruiser.

All Trileena had to do, was sit back and let the pod take it's plotted course to the moon, and await touchdown.

But then, the explosions on the _Kurinth's Keen Sight_ suddenly erupted right through the ship, and as they destroyed the cruiser, caused a massive shockwave, that knocked several escape pods, that were lagging behind, off course.

And one of those escape pods, included Trileena, who noticed that she was deviating way off course, heading straight for the planet.  
" _ **Warning! Thruster failure. Pod is unable to manoeuvre**_ ".

 _Oh goddess_ …

She was definitely in trouble now.

* * *

 _Ship Operations Center, Estivus Erax class cruiser Estivus Erax, in orbit over Luna, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way_.  
 _19th March, 1918 CE_.

Captain Desolas Nyx and Commander Macen Pentalus watched the Galaxy map in horror as the _Kurinth's Keen Sight_ exploded.

Several pods, and shuttles, were struck by the massive shockwave that followed after the explosion, taking significant damage. And some were sent spiralling way off course from their intended course towards the moon, into various directions. And some exploded.

But Captain Nyx had no time to mourn, as he ordered that a volley be readied, a target solution acquired, and then that volley fired.

Down below decks, rounds were loaded.  
Then in the Ship Operations Center, Offensive System Operators were acquiring targeting solutions onto the dreadnought.

But just as he was finishing up with the targeting solutions, an operator shouted, "Dreadnought has fired torpedoes!"

And Nyx saw them. 10 torpedoes, fast approaching the cruiser.

Seeing that they were closing the distance in no time at all, he shouted,  
"Activate defences!"

And soon, the laser turrets started acquiring the incoming torpedoes.  
7 of them were destroyed, but 3 were still incoming.

With the laser turrets having been occupied, Captain Nyx had little defensive options other than, "Raise kinetic barriers!"  
However, Macen shouted, "Too late!", as the torpedoes struck the cruiser, wrecking the Ship Operations Center and killing much of the crew in it.

* * *

 _Personnel Escape Capsule D09, on approach to Earth's atmosphere, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way_.  
 _19th March, 1918 CE_.

Despite the computer voice announcing thruster failure and that the pod was unable to manoeuvre, Trileena was still determined to get herself out of the tricky spot that she had gotten herself into.  
Trileena attempted to manoeuver her pod, but she couldn't reach the override controls from her position.

And worse of all, she couldn't unlock her harness in order to reach them, as the computer locked them for the duration until they landed.  
So it was just a matter of holding on as her pod was spiralling out of control, towards the third planet in this system.

The voice's next announcement came as a complete shock to her, as she hadn't expected that they had covered so much ground so soon (She must have been trying to do everything to manoeuvre her pod, so much so that time just seemed to fly by for her).  
" _ **Alert! Pod is about to enter atmosphere**_ ".

As she felt the immense shaking of the pod that made it feel like the pod could break apart at any moment, as the pod went through the atmosphere, Trileena made a prayer to the goddess as she clutched her harness tightly, and closed her eyes.

* * *

 _Ship Operations Center, Estivus Erax class cruiser Estivus Erax, in orbit over Luna, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way_.  
 _19th March, 1918 CE_.

Junior 1st Lieutenant Tyven Ghyx limped his way onto the Ship Operations Center, and saw absolute destruction.

Captain Desolas Nyx and Commander Macen Pentalus were dead, as their wounds were fatal. That much was certain.

His friend, Junior 1st Lieutenant Astitus Hyrx, over by a wrecked sensor console, shouted over to him "Tyven!"  
Heading over there, Tyven saw that Astitus was really badly burnt on his plates and he was clutching his right arm very tightly.  
"Asti! Are you okay?"

Grunting, Tyven realised that it was a bit of a really stupid question, but Astitus did reply, "Yeah, I'll live", before he tried to get himself up, saying "C'mon, Tyven, we've got to get this cruiser out of here. She won't last long in the open".  
"But Asti! You're wounded, you should seek medical attention!"  
"Everyone on this ship is in need of medical attention! But that's not important! Listen, we need to get this cruiser out of here, then we need to draw the dreadnought out, and hopefully do some damage. Take me to the helm, and we'll see if anyone can function the weaponry".  
"If it's still working".  
A few coughs from Astitus and "Yeah, well, we can only hope, Tyven".

* * *

 _British trenches, near Havrincourt, France, Europe, Earth, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way_.  
 _19th March, 1918 CE_.

It was a silent night, down in the trenches, for the men of the 2nd Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry.

They had been holding positions down in this sector, which was one part of the the line being held by the British Third Army, from Arras to Flesquières, but on this late night, they were quite exhausted, struggling to keep their eyes open, especially on a night like this, which just seemed very peaceful.

But while the men, who were really wishing to be in their billets in Metz-en-Couture right about now, a really bright light was fast approaching them from the sky.

One soldier, pointed this out to some of his mates, who were trying their utmost to get their rest, and cursed him for interrupting their sleep, when the bright light, brighter than an illumination flare, now engulfed the entire area, sending the entire trench into an uproar.

The bright light, even though it was about to crash in No Man's Land, was so hot that the men in the trenches could really feel the scorching heat of the object coming down, miles away.  
They almost felt like they were getting burnt, so no one could really blame them, for actually jumping down onto the ground and hugging it for dear life.

But soon, the bright light vanished, the area turning into darkness once again, as the object crashed and sent a massive cloud of dirt in it's wake.

* * *

 _Personnel Escape Capsule D09, No Man's Land, near Havrincourt, France,_ _Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way_.  
 _19th March, 1918 CE_.

As she braced herself through the atmospheric entry, and prayed that the pod would hold, Trileena Navuris made another prayer, hoping to land on solid ground.  
Then the pod hit something at least and tumbled all over.

Trileena opened her eyes and heard alarms blasting in the pod.  
One thing she did notice, was that the pod was on it's right side, giving how gravity was making her lean forward towards the harness.

Unlatching her harness, after some difficulty, she slowly got out of her seat and put her feet where the floor of the pod was currently at, essentially the harnesses on the right side of the pod.

However, before she got herself to the door, she removed her helmet slowly, before she checked the computers, to try to determine if the planet's atmosphere was breathable for Asari.  
Praying that they were still functional, she pressed the buttons on the computers and her prayers were answered when the computer read out the composition of the atmosphere.  
" ** _Air is breathable for Asari. I repeat, air is breathable for Asari_** ".

Breathing a sigh of relief, Trileena soon went over to the front of the pod and broke out the Emergency Survival Kit, taking stock on what the pod had.

An survival sidearm (with an detachable underslung barrel with a pistol grip that could fire flares, a mounted laser sight and laser cutter, and a small dagger contained in the handgrip), a multipurpose knife, a first aid kit, a thermal sleeping bag, a stretching sheet for cover from rain and weather, signal mirror, compass, three glow sticks with green, orange and yellow capsules, and six days of rations (which were meant to be shared amongst the personnel of the pod, and allow them to survive for three days). There was also a distress beacon, along with a communications rig, a portable cooker (which she all checked, and found that they worked) and a water dispenser with enough water for three days (and one flask).

Attaching her helmet to a magnetic connector on her waist, holstering the sidearm on her back and the knife by her right boot, and taking the signal mirror, compass, and the glow sticks, Trileena elected to go and scope out the area and see if there was any wildlife to hunt.  
Normally, standard policy was that the occupants of the escape pod were to stay exactly where they were, unless they absolutely had the need to, and that they were to establish a shelter first before going out to hunt.  
Trileena felt that it was essential to go and catch something sooner, rather than later, and besides her pod had survived intact, so she had a shelter to go to.

Getting to the door, she pressed a series of buttons to open the door.  
Trileena growled, as the automatic doors failed to open, even after pressing them again and again.

So, she opened the hatch to a lever that would enable her to use manual override to open the doors.  
Pulling the lever, a hand crank appeared and Trileena started winding the handle one way, which started slowly opening the doors.  
And soon, the doors opened, and Trileena got herself out of the pod.

Her boots made contact with the ground, which to her luck, was quite solid and hard. But as her eyes adjusted to the dark, she immediately saw devastation, all around her. Very familiar devastation that wouldn't have looked out of place on some battlefield halfway across the galaxy.  
Craters, destroyed trees, no wildlife of any kind whatsoever.

Trileena knew that she was in the midst of a war zone.

And as she withdraw her survival sidearm and gripped the pistol grip and handgrip, holding it close, she also obtained further proof that this was a war zone, when she came across a body on the ground, dressed in a greyish cloth uniform, wearing a steel helmet as well as a strange mask of some kind (coloured grey also, and with clear plastic eye pieces, one of which was broken) and holding a strange rifle in it's hands, that looked like it was made of wood, but had a lot of metal parts, including a small handle.  
Curious, she grabbed the strange mask and pulled it off, to reveal quite a horrifying sight, that made her flinch and drop the mask as she scrambled back a bit.

A rotting, decomposing face, with small wiggling lifeforms of some kind, having made their home within the face of this dead soldier.

Taking a few deep breaths, in and out, Trileena soon perked her head up, at the sound of what seemed to be, machine gun fire, and the faint sounds of screaming that soon turned to an ever present quiet.

Resolving to not get into contact with whoever, was out here, Trileena moved away from the sound and made good progress, all the while keeping an eye on her surroundings, and the ground (an instinct that she had been ingrained with due to years of fighting the Rachni).

Eventually, she came across a long fence, of multiple wires with some very sharp points on them, with four stakes of wood (presumably holding the whole thing together) near her.  
Putting down her sidearm and detaching the underslung grenade launcher, Trileena began using the laser cutter to cut the wires.  
The first wire went, then the next one, then the next.

And soon enough, after reattaching the underslung grenade launcher to her sidearm, which she holstered, she cleared away the wire, to get herself down, into what was seemingly a big trench.

Climbing down, she then began exploring the trench, ever mindful to be careful of the wooden plank boards under her feet, but still analysing the trench, which just seemed to be inactive.  
A shout came from behind her, and her quick reflexes enabled her to turn around and see another soldier, this one wearing a really mud-stained, dull olive green cloth uniform, and a bowl-like metal helmet, and carrying a long-strange rifle as well.

But Trileena immediately saw it time to get out of here and rushed the soldier, who raised his rifle up to his shoulder and was about to fire when Trileena closed the distance between them, and slapped the rifle from his hands, before grabbing him and slamming him against a sheet of ridged metal, producing a really loud clang.  
She attempted to climb herself out of the trench, but soon, found herself being grabbed by a very strong pair of hands.

Falling down back into the trench, Trileena found that while the soldier that she had knocked out, was completely out of it, there was another soldier, who had prevented her escape.  
Throwing some hard punches at his jaw, she definitely could see some teeth had been knocked out.  
Then, Trileena threw in a kick at his boots, and the soldier, fell over into the ground.

Getting up, Trileena attempted to get herself out of the trench, only for more soldiers to arrive, presumably having heard all the commotion and went to see what was going on.  
Immediately, all of them froze, upon seeing her, and Trileena exploited it, rushing towards them and throwing punches and kicks that would have made her instructors proud (she didn't really get the chance to use them lately, so the fact that she had picked up on the skills taught to her many years ago, after years of fighting Rachni, an enemy that wasn't ideal for close-quarters combat, was quite impressive, if she said so herself).

However, unarmed combat could only do so much, as one soldier came up and smacked the buttstock of his rifle right into her face, knocking her out.

* * *

 **Well, Trileena is now on Earth, and definitely has not made a good impression with the locals, all while the Estivus Erax is the only surviving ship against the Rachni dreadnought.  
** **  
Man, you have no idea how difficult it is to write a space battle with cruisers that just won't stand up to a dreadnought on it's own, but yet, I can't make it completely a cakewalk for the Rachni, as the Captains of the cruisers try and use ingenious tactics to do some damage of their own (and even that only goes so far).**

 **Trileena's survival sidearm is not a pistol, if anyone is wondering. It's more like a automatic rifle with the body of a shotgun, able to attach an underslung grenade launcher that can fire flares.**

 **Anyways, Don't forget to leave a review whenever you can, and see you next time!**


	10. Plans, Interrogations, Letters & Battles

**Disclaimer: Mass Effect does not belong to me. It belongs to it's respective owners, namely Bioware.**

* * *

 _Estivus Erax class cruiser, in orbit over Luna, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way_.  
 _20th March, 1918 CE_.

As soon as the _Estivus Erax_ had taken cover into the dark side of the moon, Junior 1st Lieutenants Tyven Ghyx and Astitus Hyrx all started working with surviving crew members all over the ship to restore the ship functions and combat capability.

Tyven, who had effectively taken on the position as Acting Captain as he was the highest ranked Turian on the ship still alive, while Astitus took the role of his First Officer, was amongst the still wrecked Ship Operations Center, when a report came from engineering.  
"So you can only get one engine working, do I hear that correctly?"  
The other side of the conversation seemed to take a deep breath before giving his answer, " _Erm, well, yes, Lieutenant, erm, I mean, Captain..._ ", before some very heavy coughing could be heard, and then, " _The port-side engine is too heavily damaged to function properly. If I even try and power it, just even one ounce of power would cause an systematic overload of the power grid and cause the remaining engine to overload. So, we'll just have only the starboard engine_ ".  
Tyven nodded, even though the other side of the conversation couldn't see it, and said, "Understood. Let me know if there's a potential problem that will endanger the ship".  
" _Will do_ ".

And with that transmission over, Tyven took a moment to take a deep breath, before he turned to his acting First Officer and asked,  
"Asti, how are things progressing on your end?"

Astitus inclined his head over to the acting Captain and responded, "Well, the crews are still working on the guns and the torpedoes. No updates of when they're going to be fully operational as of yet. But first thing, I'll let you know".  
"Understood. Continue on".

As they continued their orbit over the moon, out of sight from the dreadnought, a tense silence filled the entire bridge as they awaited news on the repairs.  
Every second, of every minute, no one on the bridge seemed to want to break the silence.

Until that silence was broken 9 minutes later, when the comm beeped on the First Officer's console, and Astitus clicked it.  
"Yes?"  
" _Sir, we've managed to get the guns working. We're now progressing onto the torpedoes_ ".  
"Alright, great work. But keep it up".

Then came in a report from engineering, who stated that the port-side engine is starting to leak element zero, and that they were planning on transferring the fuel over to the starboard engine.  
Fuel that if used for one engine entirely, would last them for 2 days straight.

Tyven only hoped that they could last that long against the dreadnought.

* * *

 _Vallulart Camp, Ytres, France, Europe, Earth, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way_.  
 _20th March, 1918 CE_.

Within a small wooden building, Lieutenant Trileena Navuris opened her eyes to a really pounding headache and a throbbing forehead, finding herself sat on a really uncomfortable wooden chair, in front of a wooden desk that had another wooden chair.  
"Argh…"

Putting her hands up to her forehead, she also noticed that her hands were restrained with a set of handcuffs that were a really tight fit for her.  
And noticed that apart from her skintight Asari Commando hardsuit (which were nicknamed 'Leathers', after their design resemblance to the leathers worn by pre-spaceflight Asari huntresses), she had been entirely stripped of gear.

Taking a look around at her surroundings, Trileena saw that even though daylight was present, there were no windows.  
But she soon saw something that she did not see very often, on one of the shelves in the shed.

Paper.

Reaching to grab it, she saw that it looked like a publication.

It was quite something, to feel in her fingers (even though she wore gloves on her hands), soft and smooth paper that her ancestors had phased out centuries ago.

Looking at the front page, she saw a large picture, not from a camera obviously, but hand drawn, of a soldier in close combat with another soldier. Her eyes noticed that one soldier, attacking the other, was wearing the gear of the soldiers that she had come into contact with, holding a familiar strange long rifle with a long blade attached underneaf.  
The other soldier was meanwhile, wearing a different shaped helmet, while also holding another strange rifle.  
After looking through the picture intensively, she then seemed to realise how close in resemblance this species was to the Asari. Without the scalp crest and the blue skin of course.  
Then her eyes started darting around, and she saw at the top of the publication, large letters that she could not make sense off.

And soon, Trileena's eyes widened as she realised that her translator function was not on, hence why she could not make sense of the letters.

Putting the publication on the desk, she looked towards her left arm, and realised that the handcuffs would not enable her to reach the function on her omni-tool (which Trileena thanked the goddess that the natives hadn't removed her omni-tool), to activate the translator function.

Glancing towards the door, she considered on whenever she should really use her biotics to get out of her handcuffs and activate the translator function.  
But after a few moments of internal debate in her head, she reckoned that if she was ever to get herself out of this imprisonment in a native conflict, she needed to be able to communicate with the natives, and she couldn't do that with handcuffs on, so Trileena applied her biotics onto the handcuffs, which applied pressure that it could not withstand.  
The handcuffs easily snapped with a loud crack and Trileena put them onto the desk.  
She then got to her omni-tool, activating the translator function to pick up the dialogue of the natives for her to understand and pick up on the words in order for her to communicate (the translator, was on the standard setting of providing native words in the place of whatever passed for the same word in her standard Thessian language, but had the second option to allow her to speak normally, with the translator only providing how to pronounce the native word, which depending on the word, could take time).

And through the standard Huntress implants that she received in training, the translator could also work on written words and numbers.

The translator, booted up, and after intensively looking at the title of the publication, the translator provided the name.

 **The War Illustrated**

However, her reading was interrupted when she heard footsteps approaching, and suddenly, after loud stamps on gravel, and a click at the door (Trileena reckoned that there was some sort of lock on the door), the door swung outwards to reveal three officers.

Trileena knew military officers on sight, judging by their immaculate olive green uniforms, peaked caps worn on their heads along with leather gloves and one other holding a short stick by his right hand, tucking it under his right arm.

After closing the door, the two officers stood upright, behind one who took a seat on the wooden chair in front of her, and immediately, she knew that she was in the midst of an interrogation.

And soon, the officer sitting down, took note of the broken handcuffs, the set of thick hairs above the eyes moving downwards and winkles suddenly appearing on the forehead.  
As Trileena reckoned that he must be frowning, the officer in question took the broken handcuffs and handed them over to another officer standing behind him, before then looking at The War Illustrated that was resting on the table as well.

Taking the publication out of her reach, he spoke and the translator function started beginning it's work.  
"Enjoy your read, did you?"

Normally, according to her training, Trileena was to essentially say absolutely nothing (not even display anything through body language) during an interrogation as the Instructors during her Interrogation Countermeasures Course always kept telling them, ' _You Say Nothing, You Provide Nothing_ '.  
But this case, Trileena was not an involved combatant in this native war and she was certainly not a POW, no matter if her captors thought so, so instead, as she couldn't find any words to say to that, she just settled for a shrug of her shoulders.

The officer continued speaking.  
"Quite a problem we have here. You show up unannounced, right in the middle of our trench, and give our lads quite a shock. Oh, and some bruises. Not exactly very ladylike behaviour, erm?"  
More silence from Trileena, and the officer spoke, to try and get an answer out of her, asking "Have you really got nothing to say?"

At this point, Trileena knew she couldn't stay silent for any longer if she wanted to get herself out of this tricky situation she found herself in, so she said, "It depends on the questions".  
Immediately, the officers raised eyebrows as well as sharing glances with one another, while the one interrogating her responded, "So you can speak. Excellent. This'll make things easier", before getting down to business and straight to the matter at hand.  
"At first, we thought you were a German infiltrator. But, judging by the look of you", making a show of looking over her, before returning his attention to the interrogation, "it evidently seems not".

Staring down at Trileena, the officer asked, "So who, or what, exactly, are you?"

* * *

 _Vallulart Camp, Ytres, France, Europe, Earth, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way_.  
 _20th March, 1918 CE_.

Hours past, and Private Albert Tillard had to fight the urge to fidget, as he stood on guard duty alongside Lance Corporal Calum Kershaw outside the shed containing the mysterious 'guest' that had entered into the British trenches, and when discovered, gave the lads a bunch of bruises and probably some broken noses (that was apparently what he heard from gossip across the ranks) before being knocked out.

Instead, Albert settled for slowly curling his fingers of his right hand around the buttstock of the SMLE that he held on the right shoulder, in the Shoulder Arms position, as well as slowly rocking his heels back and forth, trying to keep himself occupied.

Fortunately, Albert would not be on guard duty for very long, as the 2nd Ox and Bucks commander himself, Lieutenant Colonel Richard Cross DSO & Bar, approached him and Calum, with two other soldiers from another company.  
"Ten-shun!"

Immediately, Albert and Calum stood to attention, and the Lieutenant Colonel then relieved them, by having the two other soldiers (both of them Privates, as Albert saw no stripes on them) take their place, just as Lieutenant Trafford Steel, Captain Raymond Seymour and Major Bertram Thwaite exited the shed.

The Lieutenant Colonel asked, "So, anything on our, unusual guest, Major?"  
Major Thwaite hesitated slightly, before saying, "Well, to be quite honest with you, sir, I really do not know what to make of her".  
Cross frowned, "Well, did you speak with her? Or does she not speak English?"  
Thwaite nodded, "Oh, yes she does. Even though, her accent is nothing like I've ever heard in my life. And I've served all across the Empire, from India to Ceylon, from Hong Kong to Singapore, from Egypt to South Africa, for that matter".

Then, noticing Albert and Calum, who were still loitering close by, the Lieutenant Colonel snapped, "Well, haven't you got something better to do than loiter around? You're relieved, last time I checked! Now, go, before I change my mind and decide to put you on double-shift!"

At this, Albert and Calum moved on and headed towards the accommodations with all due haste.

* * *

 _German Army camp, North-West of Comines, Belgium, Europe, Earth, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way_.  
 _20th March, 1918 CE_.

"Hey, Johannes. You got mail!"  
Unteroffizier Johannes Kollmann, was sitting on the bed within his tent, when Gefreiter Bruno Schlick came up and handed him a envelope, presumably containing a letter.  
"Thank you, Bruno".

As Bruno then moved on, Johannes turned his attention, to the envelope, before opening it to reveal, a letter from back home.

His father didn't write much anymore, especially not after the death of Constanze Kollmann, who succumbed to illness on the 9th of July, 1917.

Instead, this letter was from one of the very few spots of joy for Johannes, a girl by the name of Helga Clauberg.

Johannes and Helga met whilst he was on leave on Kitzingen after being injured at Chemin des Dames, and after every other leave, he started spending a lot more time with her, than his father, who was getting more and more involved with his work at the munitions factory as a way to cope with his wife's illness and eventual death.  
And apparently, the relationship had progressed to more than just a simple friendship for the both of them, and they began dating, every time he got on leave.

Johannes debated massively on whenever he should propose to her or not, but he remembered some very surprising advice from Ernest Gernhardt, who said days before the battle on whenever Johannes should marry Helga, " _Johannes, it may like seem like a never-ending hell on Earth here. But, it'll be over. And this'll all be farmland again. And we'll be living our lives again. Don't spend the rest of your life wondering, on whenever what would have happened if you said yes when you said no. Every time spent, with a loved one, is worth it_ ", which enabled him to muster the courage to propose to Helga, who even though shocked, accepted.  
It took a bit of convincing for Helga's mother and father to come around to it when Johannes asked their permission, but they were convinced that Johannes was a good man for their daughter, especially learning that he was a soldier, doing 'his duty for the fatherland', as Helga's father Gottfield put it.

In January 1918, Johannes and Helga were married.  
And they made the most of their honeymoon, and married life, before Johannes was recalled from leave, and back into the line.

Refocusing back onto the present, Johannes was about to read the letter, when Hauptmann Albert Teschner, who had been finally promoted after waiting for so long for his scheduled promotion (the Zugführer position now being filled by Leutnant Manfred Koch, who had replaced Teschner before Passchendaele), shouted, "Platoons, assemble in the company assembly area immediately!"

Johannes put the letter away in the envelope and put the envelope on his bed, so he could read it later, before heading off with his platoon mates, Gefreiter Hermann Zehnder, Infanterist Ernest Gernhardt, Klaus Waldmann, Franz Andele and Hans Vetter to the Company's assembly area, at a fast pace, hoping to get there quick before suffering the wrath of Knoth, now a Vizefeldwebel.

* * *

 _Estivus Erax class cruiser, in orbit over Luna, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way_.  
 _20th March, 1918_.

The torpedoes were now fixed, the starboard engine were running at full capability and the guns were ready and loaded.

And as evening fell, they are enroute to launch a series of opening shots at the dreadnought, in the hope of doing some damage that'd make a difference.

"Guns, Torpedoes, get ready on my signal".

"Fire!"

Immediately, the torpedoes and the gun rounds were launched right on a course for the dreadnought that was still maintaining it's position over the planet.

The dreadnought kept it's shields up, and soon, the first torpedoes and rounds struck the shields, allowing the others following on behind, past the shield, and striking all over the massive vessel.

Tyven immediately issued orders.  
"Alright, now get us behind the moon, and quick! Before the dreadnought gets a shot on us!"

The starboard engine, increased it's power output to maximum, speeding up and trying to get back into the dark side of the moon.

"Dreadnought has fired one, no, two, no, three, I repeat, three rounds at us!"  
"Keep course! And don't slow down!"  
Astitus was confused, "Keep course, Tyven?"  
"Yes. Keep course! We can't afford to take evasive manoeuvres, not in our current state, or we'll be destroyed".

A pause and, "Understood".

Tyven examined the monitors, anxiously watching the progress of the dreadnought's rounds that were heading straight for them. It was so anxious, the wait, that he was tapping his right foot on the floor.

Then, the dreadnought rounds missed the _Estivus Erax_ , instead striking the surface of the moon, creating three nuclear explosions on the moon that not only created three enormous craters, but chucked up a lot of rock and dust into space.

Tyven ordered that they maintain present course, as the explosions posed no threat to the cruiser, but as his orders were acknowledged, he noticed that Astitus was examining the monitor more closely.  
"Hmmm, the port adjustment thrusters on that dreadnought seem heavily damaged".

Heading over, and looking on the monitor, Tyven zoomed in, on the image of the dreadnought, and saw that Astitus was right. The port adjustment thrusters, which allowed the vessel to turn right, were not performing any minor-correction bursts of thrust.

The dreadnought could not turn right...

Soon, Tyven came out of his musing and said to Astitus,  
"I have an idea".

* * *

 **Well, I'm afraid you're going to have to wait a bit to see what Tyven's idea is, as we'll be focusing on events down on planet Earth for a while.  
** **  
** **Initially, I was planning for a German perspective on Operation Michael, through Johannes Kollmann's eyes, but then I learned that his unit, the 11th Bavarian Infantry Division, did not take part in that operation at all, and instead, took part in Operation Georgette (otherwise known as the Battle of the Lys or the Lys Offensive), which was part of the 1918 Spring Offensive that took place from 7th April 1918 to 29th April 1918, with the intent of capturing Ypres, thus pushing British forces back to the Channel ports of Calais, Dunkirk and Boulogne.**

 **The War Illustrated was a magazine published in London by William Berry, who became the 1st Viscount Camrose after having been created as a baronet, and later.  
First released on the 22nd August 1914, it's last publication during WW1 was on the 8th February 1919 (it did return on the 15th September 1939 and ran through the Second World War, ending on the 11th April 1947), and at it's peak, it had a circulation of 750,000.  
** **  
Also, in the German Army in WW1, it was custom for a son of an officer to not hold a ranker higher than his father.  
** **Manfred von Richthofen held the rank of Hauptmann (basically a Captain), even though he performed the duties of Lieutenant Colonel, as his father was a reserve Major.  
** **And also, German officers were promoted according to a schedule, and not by battlefield promotion, so it wasn't uncommon for a German officer to be performing the duties of a higher rank than his appointed rank. For example, Erwin Rommel commanded an Infantry Battalion as a Hauptmann in 1917 and 1918.**

 **In response to some questions asked by some guest reviewers, here are the answers:**  
 **  
Answer to C. Campbell's question posted on July 15th, Well yes the aircraft carrier succeeded the battleship in WW2, and became the new symbol of naval superiority in that conflict, but in WW1, the aircraft carrier was being introduced in very early stages. First came the seaplane carriers, (the Imperial Japanese seaplane carrier Wakamiya launched the world's first ship-launched air raids on September 1914, during the Siege of Tsingtao, and British converted seaplane carriers launched seaplanes during the Cuxhaven Raid on Christmas Day 1914), then came HMS Furious, a converted Courageous class battlecruiser, that conducted the first landing of an airplane on a moving ship by Squadron Commander Edwin Harris Dunning in a Sopwith Pup on the 2nd of August 1917, as well as launching the Tondern Raid on the 19th of July 1918.  
And yes, aircraft carriers were a new aspect to space warfare that was introduced by humanity in Mass Effect lore.**  
 **  
Answer to Guest's question posted on July 16th, I definitely will say it's going to be neither of those things.**  
 **  
Answer to Guest's question posted on July 26th, Well, they won't survive on their own, that's for sure.**

 **Anyways, Don't forget to leave a review whenever you can, and see you next time!**


	11. Operation Michael

**Disclaimer: Mass Effect does not belong to me. It belongs to it's respective owners, namely Bioware.  
**

* * *

 _Vallulart Camp, Ytres, France, Europe, Earth, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way_.  
 _21st March, 1918 CE_.

Lieutenant Colonel Richard Crosse sat in his office, with Major Bertram Thwaite, Captain Raymond Seymour and Lieutenant Trafford Steel in attendance, discussing the recent interrogation of their mysterious 'guest'.

Major Thwaite spoke first, "So, what do you make of, erm, well, her, so to speak, sir?"

At the question, Crosse took a moment, to collect his thoughts, before he asked in response, "Well, what do you three, make of her, gentlemen?"

Exchanging looks between each other, Major Thwaite replied to the Lieutenant Colonel's question.  
"Erm, well, definitely not a German, sir".

Laughter followed, for a bit before they all collected themselves and got straight down to business, and before Captain Seymour could speak, Lieutenant Steel cut in by saying, "I've got to say, sirs, that you all don't seem rather surprised, that we have, basically, an alien amongst our presence, right in this very camp. I mean, an alien! An alien from outer space! I'm quite surprised that you're not at all surprised".  
"Oh we were all very surprised, Leftenant, when we brought her into the camp. It did take us a while to get used to, but she was quite out of it for a while, so that did allow us to get our bearings and get used to the fact that we had an alien being in our presence".

Lieutenant Colonel Crosse continued listening as his men debated about aliens, but he felt that enough was enough and they needed to get down straight to more important matters at hand, so he raised his voice, "Gentlemen, please! If you're done debating, we've got much more important matters at hand that we need to talk about. Like the latest activity that has been going on behind the German lines".

Thwaite nodded his head, "Yes sir, quite most troubling, combined with the recent intelligence reports on German activity around St. Quentin, and the reports of unusual activity in the enemy lines, through morning and night, I'd say that an enemy offensive is absolutely imminent, it's just a matter of when that concerns me".

Captain Seymour shook his head and did not hide his skepticism from his voice as he spoke his mind, "With due respect sir, we've been getting reports of a German offensive, and yet, I've yet to see any concrete proof of it. And I do not count the word of a Bosch as being proof. And in any case, we'll stop any offensive in our tracks", only for Thwaite to snap back, "How, may I ask, Captain? Do you know that all our Battle Zone redoubts are so far apart, that they cannot mutually support one another? Seriously, it'd be so easy for a small group of soldiers to just slip right past them, and all it'll take is for the enemy infantry to just simply bypass all the redoubts, and then, they will all be surrounded. To say that Fifth Army's defences are incomplete, is a massive under-estimatement".

But soon, Crosse held up a hand for silence, as he felt that the talk would have lead to an argument, and immediately, all the men fell silent, as he then said, "You all have very valid concerns, gentlemen, and I've seen the intelligence reports. I do agree with you, some form of German offensive action is about to be conducted, but I don't think it'll be anytime soon. They still will need to build up their forces, even with all the troops coming over from Russia, now that Russia's basically thrown the towel", before seeing his men's faces and then continuing on, "but to allay your fears, I've learned that the 61st Division launched a raid last night on German positions, capturing German prisoners, who've apparently said that this offensive would take place this morning. I don't know if it's true or not, but apparently, a artillery and gas bombardment is apparently being launched at German lines and assembly areas ahead of the 61st, as I speak".

Silence fell amongst the group, as looks were exchanged, until Lieutenant Steel asked, "So, what's going to be done about our guest, sir?"

Even though slightly a bit irritated that they were back on that subject again, the Lieutenant Colonel did provide an answer to that question,  
"Well gentlemen, as you are aware, when our mysterious 'guest' arrived, I sent a telegram to Division HQ, regarding our 'guest', and I've recently just gotten an answer".

Immediately, they all paid attention, just in time when Crosse said, "We're to hold her in our custody until the Royal Military Police arrives to take her away tomorrow afternoon".

Some uneasy glances, as Captain Seymour asked, "Take her away to where, Colonel?"  
"They didn't say".

Crosse sighed, but said eventually, after a long pause,  
"It doesn't matter. The Redcaps will be here in the afternoon, and take our 'guest' out of our hands. Then we can get back to business as usual, to the war at hand".

* * *

 _British trenches near Havrincourt, France, Europe, Earth, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way_.  
 _21st March, 1918 CE_.

In the British trenches, the men were conducting their duties, or getting as much sleep as they could, all the whilst unaware that, across the German lines, all sorts of field, medium and heavy guns, and mortars, including the 21 cm Morser 16s, 15 cm sFH 13s, 10 cm K 17s, 10.5 cm leFH 16s, 25 cm schwerer Minenwerfers and 7.58 cm Minenwerfers, were being prepped by their crews, while German infantry readied themselves to go 'over the top'.

Then at 0435 hours, they could hear explosions off in the distance, south-west of St. Quentin.  
This continued on for around 5 minutes, until 0440 hours, when the British trenches all across 40 miles were suddenly attacked by a large scale bombardment, as were the rear areas and the artillery behind the lines.

Men in the trenches were forced to take cover, any way they could, as trench mortars, mustard gas, tear gas and chlorine gas struck their trenches.

Some men managed to put on their gas masks as their NCOs or officers, started ringing the nearby bells rapidly to indicate a gas attack, but for some, it was too late, as they started gasping and clutching their faces and eyes in terror and pain.  
And whenever mustard gas was concerned, even a gas mask was not enough to prevent it's effects, as contact amongst skin resulted in blistering.

Meanwhile, in the rear areas, headquarters, telephone exchanges, railways and artillery positions were being struck by an intensive barrage from German artillery, that was absolutely relentless and unending.

And then, in the German trenches, the German infantry, awaited the signal to go over the top.

* * *

 _Vallulart Camp, Ytres, France, Europe, Earth, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way_.  
 _21st March, 1918 CE_.

In the shed nearby, Trileena was sitting on the chair, trying to get some rest after the interrogation from the native military officers, that had taken quite a while, given that light had fallen, and was now rising (even though the sun was not up in the sky, Trileena knew it soon would be eventually).  
Even though the chair was quite a bit uncomfortable for her to sleep in, and adding to that, her hands were handcuffed again (after the interrogation, with a warning not to break free from them again from the officers), something told her, after the interrogation had concluded, that she would be needing all the rest she would get, if she was to have a chance of getting off this planet.

But her attempts to get some rest, were futile, when suddenly, a series of loud noises were heard in the distance, making her fully awake, as she bolted upright, out of her chair and headed towards the door, to listen to those sounds.

It was a noise, that was familiar to Trileena. Artillery fire.

And there was a lot of it, that was for certain.

Now, it was starting to look like she was going to be on this planet for a while longer.

* * *

 **And thus, begins Operation Michael. And Trileena is right in the middle of it.**

 **Mustard gas was a horrific chemical agent. Even after it was deployed, it was still dangerous, as it could linger around for days, and weeks, thus it was an effective area-denial weapon. Also, gas masks were not enough to prevent it's effects, as it caused blistering upon contact with the skin.  
And it's lingering effects could also mean that other soldiers who come into contact with a contaminated soldier, are also poisoned by it's effects.**

 **An answer to Guest's question posted on August 7th, Well it is true that Uranus and Neptune have hydrogen and helium in it's atmosphere like Jupiter and Saturn, both planets actually contain "ices", a term for volatiles with freezing points above 100 K, namely ices and rock. And thus, Sol does have ice giants.**

 **Anyways, don't forget to leave a review whenever you can, and see you next time!**


	12. Six Hours Later

**Disclaimer: Mass Effect does not belong to me. It belongs to it's respective owners, namely Bioware.**

* * *

 _British trenches near Havrincourt, France, Europe, Earth, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way_.  
 _21st March, 1918 CE_.

It was now 0500 hours and already, visibility was poor, due to a heavy morning fog that had set all across both sides of no man's land when dawn broke.

The combination of the fog and the smoke from the ongoing artillery bombardment resulted in visibility being cut to a limit of around 10 yards in some areas.

And soon, Sturmtruppen companies began their advance ahead of the main German infantry, slipping in between British defences (helped by the fog and the smoke from the bombardment) and heading towards their own select targets.

Armed with MP18 submachine guns, an extra set of Stielhandgranates (more than the regular German infantryman would normally carry) and flamethrowers (both Kleinflammenwerfer and Wechselapparat), they attacked command headquarters, artillery positions, and supply depots, aided by the maps of their targets sown right into their uniforms.

The attack behind British defensive positions was causing considerable amount of chaos amongst the British lines.

Then, by around 0940 hours, the German infantry began their advance, as they left their trenches and marched over No Man's Land towards the British lines.

* * *

 _Vallulart Camp, Ytres, France, Europe, Earth, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way_.  
 _21st March, 1918 CE_.

After the continuous bombardment of artillery fire, the base was entirely in somewhat of a panic, Trileena observed.

"STAND TO ARMS! STAND TO ARMS!"

Soldiers were running to and from places, shouting to one another.  
It had all the symptoms of a surprise attack, troops in a panic as a result of an attack that was sudden and unexpected.

But then, Trileena's thoughts were interrupted, when the lock on the door to her current 'residence', unlocked with a click.  
The door was immediately pushed wide open and two soldiers went over to her, followed by one of the officers who interrogated her.

With the translator at full function, Trileena asked, "What's going on?"

The officer didn't respond to her, but instead said to the soldiers, "Keep her in your sight at all times. We'll need to move at a moment's notice".

* * *

 _Road leading to Barastre, France, Europe, Earth, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way_.  
 _22nd March, 1918 CE_.

The men of the 2nd Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry had indeed moved from Vallulart Camp, commencing their march at around 4:30 in the morning, via Lechelle and Bus, heading towards the Barastre-Haplincourt area.

However, the journey was easier said than done, as Trileena (wearing a cloak, a helmet and a mask that was given to her, in order to hide her appearance) soon found out when she was walking alongside the two soldiers who had been assigned as her guards.

Troops, in misshapen, dirty uniforms, were moving in the opposite direction, looking quite demoralised and shaken, evidence that whatever was happening, a military disaster had happened.  
Trileena had seen it before whenever the Rachni had successfully invaded a planet and broken through the defences before the defenders could counter them.

But one sight that caught her eye, was a long line of soldiers, who were walking in one single file, hands on shoulders, bandages wrapped around their very faces, and groaning in severe pain as they walked very slowly.  
And Trileena did not miss the way that everyone who so much as glimpsed at them, grimaced as they turned their heads away and did not look at them again.

* * *

 _British lines around Bertincourt, France, Europe, Earth, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way_.  
 _23rd March, 1918 CE_.

The men of the 2nd Ox and Bucks had reached billets in Barastre on the 22nd, and managed to get some accommodation after some initial trouble.

But later, they received orders to move at 2pm, to support a brigade of the 17th Division, which was under heavy attack, holding a line in front of Hermies-Havrincourt.

The 2nd Oxs and Bucks marched around the south side of Bertincourt, without casualties, to a position on the west of the Bertincourt-Hermies road at around 6:15pm, where to their left, was the 2nd Battalion, the Highland Light Infantry, and to their right, was A Battalion of the 63rd (Royal Naval) Division.

The next day, on the 23rd, the 2nd Oxs and Bucks started to settle themselves into the lines, with B Company, D Company, A Company and C Company in that respective order.  
Trileena, still under guard, was with the 4th Platoon, of A Company, and she witnessed as everyone started digging in and getting ready for an enemy attack, digging up the ground with spades, picks and shovels to form foxholes and other defensive positions (that was as it seemed to her, even though instinct forged over years of war against the Rachni was screaming at her that digging into the ground was a bad idea, given her experiences with Rachni that were masters of burrowing under the ground and launching attacks from there).  
Even though every instinct in her was screaming to help out, or at least do something rather than just observe the proceedings out in front of her, Trileena also knew that it was not exactly a good idea considering that some of the soldiers, and some officers, were exchanging curious glances at her disguise, no doubt wondering who it was underneaf that disguise, and then some soldiers and officers who Trileena recognised, as being present when she arrived on this planet, and therefore, knew exactly who and what she was.

Thus Trileena reckoned that it was best for her to just stay out of way and not get involved in this war anymore than she already had done.  
Plus, she was still in handcuffs and she knew that to break out of them now was to cause potential problems, so she indeed decided to only break out of them, if her life was in any imminent danger.

Upon hearing the gunfire coming closer to them, Trileena idly wondered if that moment might be sooner rather than later.

* * *

 **Well, I was initially planning for Trileena and Albert to be getting action in this trailer, but the buildup to it wasn't working, so I settled for just them getting into the defensive lines and starting to dig in, then having a bit of a time skip before we get around to some action.**  
 **Next chapter, will definitely include some action, that much is certain. And we'll also be seeing what's been happening up in Earth's orbit...**

 **By 1918 standards, Operation Michael did achieve a substantial advance, but in actual fact, was nothing more than a pyyhric victory, as the ground that they had captured, was a shell-ridden wasteland, courtesy of the Battle of the Somme in 1916, and the German's own scorched Earth policy during their retreat to the Hindenburg Line in 1917. The land was not easily defendable, and the advance meant an overextension of the German lines (German lines, which could not be supplied easily and regularly due to the destroyed land).**

 **Also, while the Allies sustained casualties and lost tanks and equipment, it was replaceable compared to the Germans, who lost valuable, trained men that they would ill-afford to lose (especially since a million more men were still stationed as occupation forces from Poland to the Caspian Sea, as a result of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. And these occupation troops had to contend with revolts, guerrilla warfare and an attempted Bolshevik uprising in Finland (which had gained independence from Russia in 1917, and was in the midst of a Civil War), the last one which made Ludendorff so paranoid of propaganda being spread to his troops from Moscow, that he was reluctant to transfer these men over to the Western Front).**

 **Anyways, don't forget to leave a review whenever you can, and see you next time!**


	13. Withdrawals, Sneak Attacks and Impacts

**Disclaimer: Mass Effect does not belong to me. It belongs to it's respective owners, namely Bioware.**

* * *

 _British lines around Bertincourt, France, Europe, Earth, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way Galaxy_.  
 _23rd March, 1918 CE_.

4th Platoon of A Company, of the 2nd Ox and Bucks, had been digging up foxholes and other defensive positions, including those for the machine gun sections to place their Vickers guns, for a good long while ever since they first arrived.

That had been twenty-two hours ago and it was now half past three in the afternoon.

Then, they came under fire.

Private Albert Tillard, who had been digging up a dugout with a entrenching tool, dived down for cover, dropping his entrenching tool before unslinging his Lee-Enfield SMLE from his back, before bringing the buttstock up to his shoulder and aligning his right eye with the weapon sights, in order to acquire targets in front of him, which were unleashing machine gun and rifle fire towards the lines.

As soon as everyone around him was returning fire, Albert lined up the sights onto one of the many muzzle flashes that were seen far off into the distance, and pulled the trigger before cycling back the bolt, then repeating the action until the weapon's 10-round capacity was spent.

With the weapon empty, Albert got out two charger clips, each filled with 5-rounds of Mark VII .303 British ammunition, from his pouch, and started loading them in, using his thumb to push in the first clip, then getting the second clip in afterwards, the same way. Then, once he removed the clips, he then pushed the bolt forward and the handle down, which then put the first of ten rounds, into the weapon chamber. Thus the weapon was ready to fire.  
Upon squeezing the trigger, the round was propelled out through the barrel of the weapon and straight towards the general direction of the German gunfire that was striking them, and while it only struck the ground, Albert followed through by rapidly expelling the casing with the bolt. And soon enough, Albert was aiming the sights on the target, pulling the trigger, working the bolt and repeating this process, until the weapon became empty after firing off the tenth round.

As Albert got out two more charger clips of five .303 British rounds each, Trileena was on the ground, hugging it for dear life, as if the ground would swallow her up and protect her from all the gunfire from these, primitive gunpowder weapons that the natives were using in this conflict.  
She was no stranger to war, but her enemies didn't wield firearms. Instead, all her sisters-in-arms, and all the allies of the Asari, had to contend with, were tentacles that could pierce bodies, decapitate heads, break necks, acid spit that could burn and melt through flesh and metal, and the occasional biotic ability that were possessed by Brood Warriors.

Now, all her observations could see that each side in this planetary conflict, had access to firearms, grenades and artillery, and this was all just a glimpse of what she had seen of this war so far.  
All she could pretty much hear, was the screaming, the yelling, the constant whoosh and zip of bullets and the crack of machine gun fire all around her.

* * *

 _Corbie, France, Europe, Earth, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way Galaxy_.  
 _24th March, 1918 CE_.

Sergeant Kenneth Standing watched, from the defensive positions established around Corbie, as the British cavalry marched past them, and listened, as his fellow Diggers called out to the horsemen,  
"Hey, stick it up at the Hun for us, will ya?"

A calm voice, with a Worcestershire accent, then responded cheerfully as he leaned over slightly from his horse's stirrups, while holding on to the reins, and waved at the Aussies, "Thank you! We will do!"

And Lieutenant William Randolph Herbert Badley soon turned his attention onto the continuing march, towards Hamel, before he settled in and made himself more comfortable on the 1912 UP Steel Arch Saddle of his dark chestnut horse, Challenger.  
He'd be lying if he said he wasn't relieved to be back with his horse.  
Ever since the 1st Cavalry Division was given the order to be remounted, orders that came straight from the currently located Division headquarters at Framicourt, the 11th Hussars (Prince Albert's Own) were one of the many cavalry regiments of the Division that took to their saddles once again, for since the Germans launched the offensive on the 21st, the 11th Hussars had been fighting without their horses for three days straight, at Villecholles and Sailly Laurette, trying everything in their power to stop the German advance dead in it's tracks.

Now, the 11th Hussars were now on their way to Hamel, where the German offensive was about to reach. William reckoned that the situation must have been very serious for the order to be given to remount onto horses, despite the fact that it seemed that the cavalry was long obsolete since 1914.

Over in the distance, was the constant thundering of artillery fire and machine gun fire, while close to the column of horses and their riders from the 11th, were the sounds of soldiers marching back to the rear of the lines, as they withdrew.

William did not miss the way that the soldiers were all showing signs of fatigue, dismay, and injuries (either from gunshots, artillery fire or even those struck by gas).

Turning his head away from the line of walking wounded troops, William adjusted his bandolier to shake off his unease as the 11th headed towards Hamel.

* * *

 _British lines around Bertincourt, France, Europe, Earth, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way Galaxy_.  
 _24th March, 1918 CE_.

The order to withdraw was given at around 8am.

At first, there had been a withdrawal order given last evening, but at 1:00am, the next day, the Transport Officer arrived with messages from the commanding officer of 5th Infantry Brigade, that reinforcements were expected, the Brigade would put up an all-round fight and that there would be no withdrawal.

Eventually those plans seemed to have changed, and the Battalion was given the order to withdraw and reassemble on ridge east of Barastre.

However, it was easier said than done, as despite that the withdrawal proceeded with fewer casualties than expected, the Battalion fell under long range machine gun fire as they headed towards Barastre-Haplincourt, and they were now convinced that Bus was in German hands.

But such thoughts were not on the mind of Private Albert Tillard as the long range machine gun fire caused his fellow soldiers to dive to the ground and look for whatever cover they could find.  
However, Albert was not one of those people, as he felt multiple bullets then hit him all over his chest, abdomen, shoulders, collarbone and the neck, the impact of which threw him backwards, onto the ground.  
Lying down on his back, bleeding, Albert idly wondered why the world suddenly felt so silent, like a ringing sensation had replaced all the screams and the gunfire of war, but he put that to one side and attempted to shout for help, only to suddenly find it very hard to actually even muster the strength to breath out a word. In fact, there was a very sharp, heavy pain on one side of his chest and he was now noticing that it was getting harder and harder to breathe, with every breath that he took.

And now, Albert Tillard, from Cowley, Oxfordshire, would die alone on a battlefield in France, forgotten in the midst of the now hectic withdrawal.

Meanwhile, Trileena saw a soldier carrying crates get killed by the machine gun fire, and instinct seemed to take her over as she discarded her hood, mask and helmet, then sprinted towards him, and checked him over, despite the handcuffs on her person. And started rummaging through the crates to find anything useful.  
Her 'guards' rushed over to her position, but before they could reach her, Trileena managed to find her gear, consisted of her survival sidearm, multipurpose knife, signal mirror, compass, glow sticks and her helmet.

After using her biotics to break off her handcuffs, she put away the signal mirror, compass and glow sticks in pouches within the hardsuit, then holstered her knife by her right boot, before putting her helmet on.  
But before she could grab her survival sidearm, her guards caught up with her and shouted "STOP!" while holding their rifles right at her.

However, they were soon cut down by the long range machine gun fire, and Trileena grabbed her survival sidearm, before joining in the withdrawal with the native troops, reckoning that she'd deal with getting off this planet and out of this native war when things were not so hectic.

* * *

 _Ship Operations Center, Estivus Erax class cruiser Estivus Erax, in orbit over Luna, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way Galaxy_.  
 _24th March, 1918 CE_.

They had been conducting hit-and-run attacks on the Rachni dreadnought for three days straight and the surviving crew had held their breath each time they made their attack, thinking that it would be their last.

But remarkably, through sheer grit and determination, and will to do their duty, the crew managed to enable to the _Estivus Erax_ to survive, and their efforts in attacking the dreadnought for two days straight, were now starting to pay off.

The dreadnought, had just about enough with the lone Turian cruiser harassing them, and was now increasing power to it's engines, setting out towards the moon on a gentle cruise.

Junior 1st Lieutenant Tyven Ghyx was still performing his role as Acting Captain of the ship, while Junior 1st Lieutenant Astitus Hyrx was doing a stellar job as his Acting First Officer.  
And soon, they saw the result of their fruitful actions in harassing the dreadnought, and soon Astitus conferred with Tyven, "Captain, even if we did it, successfully drawing out the dreadnought, you do realise that we cannot last long in any close up engagement. They'll destroy us..."  
"Unless we close the distance".

Astitus did not like the way that Tyven said this, and asked waringly, "How close?"

It had taken a while for the acting Captain to answer, but Astitus held his silence, even after Tyven sighed, saying "You're not going to like it", before Tyven eventually answered fully, "We'll need to get to point blank range before we open fire. Hopefully, we'll cause massive structural damage to the dreadnought, enough to hurt it".

His friend had been right, Astitus did not like the plan at all.  
"Are you out of your mind!? Spirits, this is seriously the worst kind of plan we can hope for!"  
Tyven snapped, "I know that, Asti! It's the only way! Our only chance!"

Silence fell upon the Ship Operations Center, as every surviving crewmember took a brief moment to look up from their duties as they saw the Captain snap at the First Officer, before they returned to their duties, not wanting to endure their wrath.

It took a few moments, before Tyven took a deep breath and asked his friend, "Now, all I am asking for, is, for your help. Do I have it?"  
Astitus only had one answer, "Yes", and resolved to help out in any way he can, to ensure that this plan would have at least have some chance of succeeding.

"Alright, here's what we're going to need to do, Tyven, if we're to succeed..."

* * *

 _Rachni Dreadnought, entering orbit over Luna, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way Galaxy_.  
 _24th March, 1918 CE_.

The enormous Rachni Dreadnought drifted into geostationary orbit over Luna, and started scanning the surrounding area for the lone, limping Turian cruiser that had been harassing them for two days straight.  
However, their scans proved fruitless and they could not find the cruiser, so the Dreadnought, after concluding that the cruiser must be in hiding somewhere near the moon, heads towards the dark side of the moon.

They were convinced that the cruiser was hiding there, after their scans indicated heavy usage of element zero from a cruiser, that had been lingering around the vicinity of the area.

But they made one critical mistake.  
The Turian cruiser was hiding indeed, but not within the shadows emitted from the dark side of the moon.  
Instead, the cruiser was hiding on the moon's surface, some distance away from the dark side of the moon.

And the cruiser was now powering up, after having gone silent for quite a while, and lifting off the surface towards the Dreadnought's underbelly.  
The dreadnought was so focused on the dark side of the moon, that it did not anticipate the cruiser hiding on the surface of the moon itself, and thus, they were caught unprepared when the Estivus Erax managed to get to a considerable distance to the dreadnought's underbelly.

On board, Tyven gave the order to fire, and two rounds were fired. One went straight up to impact the kinetic barriers. The other round did manage to get past and do minor damage to the underbelly of the dreadnought.

With this, the acting Captain gave the order to close in and crash onto the dreadnought's underbelly.

And as his ship closed the distance between it and the dreadnought, he looked out towards his crew and his friend Astitus, who despite his offer to leave while he set the ship on autopilot, then fire the cannons personally, all refused to leave his side.  
Tyven Ghyx could not have been more proud to be a Turian than ever, right now.

Crashing the bow onto the dreadnought, Tyven immediately shouted down to the engine room, "STARBOARD ENGINE, FULL POWER!"

And the _Estivus Erax_ 's single engine roared as the cruiser's bow started embedding itself further within the hull.  
Once it could go no further, Tyven then shouted to the gunnery room, "FIRE!", and the cannons were fired. At point blank range.

The explosion destroyed the _Estivus Erax_ , but managed to rip right through the dreadnought, exposing many decks within to the vacuum of space.

It's structure heavily compromised and under intense strain, the dreadnought was now starting to break apart, and just as the Rachni were scrambling to try and save the dreadnought, it was however, too late.  
The whole ship then broke apart into five segments and many Rachni were suddenly flung into the vacuum of space.

However, some Rachni still lived within those five segments, which were now heading towards the impact course with the Earth.

This took some hours, before all five of the dreadnought segments started entering Earth's atmosphere.

Despite that the dreadnought was not rated for atmospheric operations, all five segments managed to survive the burning up on entry and plummet down, leaving a trail of burning debris and smoke right behind it.

* * *

 _3 miles North-east of Genk, Belgium, Europe, Earth, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way Galaxy_.  
 _24th March, 1918 CE_.

The first segment had created such an enormous fireball, that those 27 miles away, could feel the immense heat coming off it, and those 10 miles away caught terrible sunburns on their faces and their hands.

Upon landing, the local German garrison, wondering if this was a new type of British or French aerial bomb or weapon of any kind, sent troops to the area to investigate, only to find that they couldn't get close, due to the immense heat and flames given off by the segment that only allowed them to get within 4 miles of it, before they had to stop.

* * *

 _1 mile West off the coast of the island of Moskenesøya, Norway, Europe, Earth,_ _Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way Galaxy_.  
 _24th March, 1918 CE_.

People living in settlements and towns near the island of Moskenesøya in Norway, soon saw a large fireball plummeting down off the coast.

However, they couldn't look at the fireball for too long as it was about as bright at the sun, it seemed to some people, and they had to turn their eyes away.

The second segment impacted the water, causing a massive shifting in water displacement and therefore, causing a massive tidal wave that not only managed to ravage the Norwegian coastline, as well as settlements on the coast and in nearby fjords, but also reached Scotland, the Shetland Islands, the Faroe Islands and even Iceland itself.

But at the actual crash site, the segment settled on the water, before it started slightly sinking below the waves, until it's hull reached the bottom of the ocean.  
The cold of the ocean water started cooling down and extinguishing some of the fires on the segment, but not all, as the blaze amongst the waves could be seen for miles.

* * *

 _Zagreb, Croatia-Slavonia, Austria-Hungary, Europe, Earth,_ _Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way Galaxy_.  
 _24th March, 1918 CE_.

The third segment had a bit of a different entry approach than the other two.  
It was picking up so much speed faster than the other two segments, that it broke the sound barrier, causing the citizens of Zagreb to stop their daily activity and look towards the sky as a massive fireball in the skies started getting bigger and bigger, second by second.

They were so memorised by this, that it took a while for them to register that it was coming straight for the capital of the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia, one of the autonomous kingdoms Kingdom of Hungary, which in turn was one of the two states of the union known as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and soon enough, the whole city was within a panic as they all tried to get out.

But, it was too late, and the explosion that resulted, could be heard as far away as Berlin, with windows being shattered in Prague and Vienna.

Nearby towns and villages all looked on in horror, at the resulting devastation of Zagreb, that was much worse than the 1880 Zagreb Earthquake, before tending to the survivors who came from the outskirts of Zagreb.

They had been asked if anyone within the city had survived. Not one of them could provide an answer.  
It was clear on their faces that no one did.

* * *

 _10 miles North of Olyokminsk, Siberia, Soviet Russian Republic, North Asia, Earth, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way Galaxy_.  
 _24th March, 1918 CE_.

The fourth and the fifth segments entered the atmosphere, and were heading on a collision course for Murmansk and Moscow but were very close together.

They were so close, that it was inevitable that they would collide with one another.  
And the collision that followed, resulted in both segments becoming one enormous segment, that diverted massively off course and headed straight for Siberia.

The crash-landing, resulted in a massive explosion, bigger than the explosion in Zagreb, and even bigger than the Tunguska event that happened around ten years ago.

Forests were burnt down, trees were ripped up from their roots and thrown into the sky, landing 39 miles away. And the town of Olyokminsk and it's inhabitants were completely wiped out, by the shockwave from the impact, and the crater that formed as well.

Russia was too busy dealing with a Civil War, to notice or even care enough to divert their attention to it.

A fact that would would prove ultimately fatal, as Rachni got out of the segment, and started burrowing a tunnel downwards, just as an Rachni Queen emerged from the segment, took a pause to take into account, the surroundings, and then made a screech that could be heard for miles.

The Rachni, were now on Earth.

* * *

 **Yep, the Rachni are now on Terra Firma, and next chapter, we will be seeing their impact and all sides of the conflict reacting to them.  
I've somewhat got an idea on how each and every one of the infantry and crew-served weapons of WW1 will do against the Rachni, but if you've got any opinions on how they'd perform against the Rachni, I'd be happy to welcome them and take them into account. **

**The Lee-Enfield was initially meant to have been replaced by a different weapon, the Pattern 1913 Enfield, by 1914, due to the fact that during the Second Boer War, the British Army with their .303 MLEs faced Boer marksmen with Mauser Model 1895s, which with it's 7mm Mauser rounds (rounds with higher velocity, flatter trajectory and longer range than the .303, which was top heavy, round-nosed with poor muzzle velocity and had poor ballistic performance), made the weapon superior on the open countryside of the South African plains.  
The Pattern 1913 Enfield was to have a new cartridge, the .276 Enfield, and to have a modified Mauser bolt action, and it almost seemed like that the weapon was to replace the Lee-Enfield, until World War 1 broke out and it was impractical to continue development to perfect the weapon and it's round (it suffered from overheating and bore fouling in earlier testing).**

 **However, the Pattern 1913 did live on, somewhat, in the Pattern 1914 Enfield, which were redesigned to fit the .303 British round, but was a mere afterthought to the SMLE (it only had the ability to hold and fire five rounds), and instead found use as a sniper rifle, as it was found to be much more accurate than the SMLE.**  
 **And the Pattern 1914 Enfield was modified by the US arms manufacturers, upon entry in the war in 1917, to become the M1917 Enfield, which fired the .30-06 Springfield round.**  
 **The US was in need of new rifles as well, but while the M1903 Springfield was meant to be in service, it was difficult to manufacture. In fact, the M1917 Enfield outnumbered the Springfield in the amount of numbers produced and units issued, to such a extent that by November 11th, 1918, around 75% of the American Expeditionary Force was armed with the M1917 Enfield.**  
 **Both the Pattern 1914 Enfield and the M1917 Enfield did see service post WW2, with the British Home Guard, US mortar men and artillery-men in North Africa, US and Fillipino guerrillas in the Philippines, and most notably, the M1917 Enfield does still see service with the Danish Slædepatruljen Sirius, an elite Danish naval unit stationed in Greenland that performs long range-reconnaissance patrols.**

 **In regards to William Badley and the 11th Hussars, I don't really have a lot of information on the 11th Hussars' actions during the 1918 Spring Offensive, other than they participated in it and were fighting as dismounted for three days before they remounted their horses, so what I'm doing, is trying to use the little facts (that they fought at Sailly Laurette and Hamel) to make a sort of story as to what William Badley was doing in the Spring Offensive.  
And that story has to also put him in a position where he mets another character. So, yeah, the part with William was quite tricky for me to do.**

 **The locations for the landing sites of the Rachni dreadnought segments is significant for the story, especially the segment in Norway, and the segment in Belgium and Austro-Hungary, in terms of future battles.**

 **The fourth and fifth segments were originally supposed to land in different places, with the fourth to land within the Caucasus Mountains, while the fifth landed outside Olyokminsk.**  
 **However, I then felt that the fourth segment landing in the Caucasus didn't help the story in any way, and besides, writing it was hard, so I decided to merge the two segments into one and land them in Siberia.**

 **Anyways, don't forget to leave a review whenever you can, and see you next time!**

 **Update (24/12/17): Added a few more lines after I realised that there were some dialogue and sentences missing. Whoops! Anyways, all fixed now.  
Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!**


	14. The Swarm Starts to Spread

**Disclaimer: Mass Effect does not belong to me. It belongs to it's respective owners, namely Bioware.**

* * *

 _Outside Villers-au-Flos, France, Europe, Earth, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way Galaxy_.  
 _24th March, 1918_.

British forces were now at the Red Line, including the 2nd Ox and Bucks, who had Lieutenant Trileena Navuris, Asari Huntress of the 147th Huntress Unit, to thank for the assistance in escaping the Germans.

Needless to say, as they all walked all the way to the Red Line in the aftermath of their retreat, much of the rank and file of the Ox and Bucks, along with some NCOs, were slowly coming around to the idea of a blue-skin, tentacle head, female alien fighting alongside them. That wasn't to say that they were totally over the shock of an actual alien, let alone a female, being amongst them. In fact, Trileena had heard some of the humans mutter under their breaths, wondering on whenever she was, what they called a Martian. Not to also mention, that some were thinking that there must be a logical explanation for her 'appearance', for they reckoned that it was impossible for her to be a woman because, and quote, 'women cannot not fight'.  
And there were those who looked at her in a mixture of amazement and awe, along with gratitude.  
Then again, given that they had been shot up by Germans, they had been very grateful for the help she provided.

However, many other NCOs and officers, still were skeptical on her origins and allegiance, and thus squashed down the rumours being spread amongst the soldiers, telling them to cut the chatter and stay focused on the job at hand, while giving Trileena the cold shoulder whenever she tried to ask them some questions, which basically said it all to her, to mind her own business.

After a seventh rebuffed attempt at conversation with one of the officers, Trileena heard mechanical sounds, and turned her head towards it, seeing a rhomboidal shaped vehicle with tracks, that had a high climbing face, and two sponsons with two cannons and a set of machine guns across the vehicle.

Another one appeared, and it had a very familiar appearance, only that the sponsons were completely consisted of machine guns. And around 5 more appeared.

Watching as they moved slower than walking pace, Trileena's observation was cut short when a voice spoke up behind her,  
"You're probably wandering what these machines are, miss. Well, let me introduce you to the Mark IV tank", before pointing at the one with the cannons, "That's a male", and then the one with the machine guns, "And that's a female".

Turning her head, realising that one of the soldiers must have caught her staring at it, before catching a word that the soldier had said, then doing a double-take at the big rumbling machines before her, "Tanks? Those are tanks?"  
"That's right, miss. 'Bout the first damn thing in this bloody war that's useful..."

Trileena tuned the soldier out as she observed the mud-caked tracked vehicles that these humans called tanks.

The Asari, unlike the Turians or the Salarians, did not have much in the way of tanks, but did have armoured fighting carriers, basically troop carriers with a turret to provide fire support, known as AFCs. These human 'tanks', however, didn't look like that they could even capable of taking on a Hovercar, let alone a Asari AFC or a Turian tank in a one on one fight.

Then, she was brought out of her staring when one of the soldiers called out and pointed towards the sky.  
"Whoa, look at that!"

Everyone snapped their heads to look at where the soldier was pointing towards, and they all saw it. Including Trileena.

Around five fireballs, falling down from the sky, veering off in opposite directions, some getting bigger, others getting smaller.

However, one of those fireballs, coming on a projectory that was rather within their vicinity, was giving off so much heat, that much of the soldiers, and Trileena, was feeling the heat coming off it, even if Trileena reckoned that it was miles away from them.  
Then, the fireball came in much faster than it did before, so fast that it became much brighter than it was, so much so that they all had to turn away from looking right at it.

And immediately, the fireball crashed into the ground, and a huge explosion could be heard, causing some to stagger a bit at the immense power of the shockwave that ruptured right through the air.

Trileena could hear them speaking amongst each other, wondering on what it was, and where it had crashed.  
"Do you reckon it's in Germany?"  
"Erm, well..."  
"Yeah, it'd serve the Hun, alright!"  
"No, it looks like it's crashed in Belgium".  
"Belgium?"

However, their starring and their rumour spreading prompted the officers to divert their attention, "Alright, everyone, stop loitering about and get a move on! Fritz isn't taking a break, neither should the lot of you!"

The murmuring amongst the soldiers died off, as they groaned slightly and now moved off in the direction of the Ancre.  
But before Trileena followed on, she took a glance towards the sky, wondering what was going on up there, before shaking her head, knowing that this wasn't the time or place to ponder on such things.

* * *

 _Crashed segment of Rachni Dreadnought, 3 miles North-East of Genk, Belgium, Europe, Earth, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way Galaxy_.  
 _25th March, 1918_.

The German troops, who maintained a perimeter 4 miles surrounding the crashed segment, were unaware that the occupants were still alive and well, and were not intent on staying where they were.

In fact, after they had crashed, they immediately set to work on burrowing themselves out from underneath.

And burrow they did, until they managed to dig their way through underneath and reach up to the surface.

And once the Rachni reached the surface and burst out, the Germans were completely caught by surprise, as massive bugs, some bigger than a horse, came rushing out and started swamping them in overwhelming numbers.

Of course, the Germans attempted to fight back with their weapons, from their Luger P08 pistols, Mauser C96 machine-pistols, their Gewehr 98 bolt-action service and their Stielhandgranates, but before long, every German soldier and officer found themselves slaughtered in droves by the Rachni.

As soon as this small group of German soldiers were finished, the Rachni screeched and began rushing through the war-torn countryside of German occupied Belgium, with the intent of spreading as far out as possible, while more Rachni came pouring out from the hole, adding more to their numbers.

Within moments, the whole city of Genk was being swarmed by the Rachni, who had achieved maximum surprise against the small German garrison, and German sentries by the infamous 'Wire of Death', a barbed-wire/electric fence at the Belgian-Netherlands border, were easily overwhelmed by the masses of Rachni.

Village and town fell to the Rachni, inciting mass panic amongst Belgian civilians who had suffered from the German occupation, and it got to the point, that one hour after the Rachni started spreading out from their crash site, they were heading straight for Antwerp, Ghent, Brussels and Liege.

And they had absolutely no intention of stopping there.

* * *

 _Brussels, Belgium, Europe, Earth, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way Galaxy_.  
 _25th March, 1918_.

And indeed, the Rachni did not stop, as across Belgium, wave after wave of Rachni swarmed the countryside, slaughtering all resistance that came across them.

After capturing Antwerp and the city of Hasselt, the Rachni continued heading onwards towards Ghent and Liege, as well as Brussels, where the German occupation forces were in a chaos trying to organise a response against these sudden attackers.

Just as the Governor General of the Kaiserliches Deutsches Generalgouvernement Belgien, Generaloberst Ludwig Freiherr von Falkenhausen, who in the midst of planning Operation Georgette with Ferdinand von Quast and Friedrich Sixt von Armin, was now getting widespread reports of a unknown enemy swarming right through the Belgian countryside and making short work of German forces everywhere, and trying to formulate some form of response, he was absolutely shocked when one of his messengers arrived to tell him that the city of Leuven had fallen was now under attack.

For Leuven was halfway within the vicinity of Brussels, and while the others were surprised that they were this close so suddenly, Falkenhausen decided that enough was enough, and ordered that German troops, slated for Operation Georgette to be redeployed in order to meet this new threat.

* * *

 _Kortenberg, Belgium, Europe, Earth, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way Galaxy_.  
 _25th March, 1918_.

Unteroffizier Johannes Kollmann was confused, as he slung his Gewehr 98 over his right shoulder, and marched alongside his kameraden.

The 11th Bavarian Infantry Division had all been set and ready to go, for an upcoming operation on the 7th of April, and were planning to get to their staging areas for the upcoming operation, but then, all a sudden, they and a dozen other units assigned to the operation were pulled off and sent to a position east of Kortenberg, east of Brussels.

And after hours and hours of marching in formation on the road, and passing Brussels, Johannes immediately knew that _something_ was definitely going on.  
Everywhere on the road, there was a sense of chaos and panic in the air, as everybody around them just seemed to be rushing from place to place. Officers were on edge, and some Belgians, with the few belongings that they had on their backs (some didn't even have belongings, but just the very clothes on their person), were running in the opposite direction, screaming their heads off and not looking back.

Gefreiter Bruno Schlick, Infanterist Klaus Waldmann, Franz Andele and Hans Vetter all saw the horror on their faces, and wondered what on Earth could cause such horror on the faces of Belgian civilians, until Unteroffizier Hermann Zehnder whispered for them to shut up and keep on marching, otherwise they would endure the wrath of Knoth.  
This caused them to shiver and carry on marching forward in formation.

Johannes was so deep within his thoughts, as he subconsciously marched in formation with his unit, that he didn't notice how long they had marched and how far until they could see indicators of _massive_ activity right in front of them.  
Shouting, sounds of horses, sounds of guns being cocked and loaded, and sounds of artillery being prepared.

Then, as soon as they got closer, they saw where they were being deployed, and took a good look at it all.  
It looked liked that a battle was being prepared, for barbed wire, machine guns, mortars, field guns, medium guns and heavy guns were being readied in positions all over the wide open plain, while men were putting down sandbags and digging up foxholes.

As everyone quickly exchanged glances with one another, Oberleutnant Albert Teschner then shouted for the whole platoon to halt, and they did so.

Then, as the Oberleutnant reported in to another officer on the scene, Johannes then heard his friend, Infanterist Ernest Gernhardt, whisper, "Mein Gott..."  
Asking him what the matter was, Ernest quickly looked at him, with a slight dread on his face, which got Johannes very concerned.  
Then, Ernest asked Johannes, "Is it me or are they loading chemical shells over there?"

At this, Johannes glanced over to lots of artillery crewmen by their vast variety of artillery pieces across the plains, getting their guns ready.  
But what had gotten his attention, was that certain guns were being manned by crewmen wearing gas masks, and taking utmost care with handling the shells, more so than they probably would with a regular shell.  
And he could see the markings of yellow and green on the shell.

A chill went right through Johannes' skin and bones, and he was not alone, when Ernest said, "Whoever they are, command must really want them dead if they want to gas them..."  
Johannes blankly nodded, saying nothing as memories of being gassed by the British and seeing many of his fellow Germans gasping and choking to death, screaming in agony, passed right through his mind.

Then, he and Ernest were not the only ones to notice, and were starting to whisper loudly, until Feldwebel Paul Knoth shouted, "SILENCE! STOP TALKING AND PAY ATTENTION! THE OBERLEUTNANT IS COMING!"

And so he was.  
Oberleutnant Teschner then said, "Alright, everyone, fall out and follow Feldwebel Knoth. He'll guide you to your positions".

After being given the order to fall out, Knoth then had everyone follow him towards a set of foxholes, where he pointed out an individual one for a soldier to take.  
Johannes was shown to his foxhole, which was to the right of Ernest's foxhole, and they unslung their weapons.

But then suddenly, a shriek pierced right through the air, in the distance. And even though it was some distance away, it still could be heard by everyone present, making them all jump at it, before they all aimed their weapons right down towards where it had come from.

Everywhere across the line, everyone was loudly speculating on what on earth the shriek was, but were silenced by the loud, piercing voices of the NCOs, before a call came that whoever they were, they were fast approaching, and a gas attack was authorised.

Looking across the line, Johannes could see certain guns being readied and elevated, by men in gas masks, before the shriek came back again.  
Immediately, Johannes jumped and turned his head right back forward. A chill went right through his skin and bones once again, at the realisation that the shriek was much louder.

Whoever they were, they were getting closer and closer.

Then, came a shout throughout the line, "GAS MASKS ON!"  
"GAS MASKS ON!"

Immediately, Johannes got to his helmet and undid the straps, putting it to one side, before getting to his tin, slung on his body, containing his gas mask.  
Opening it, he got it out and slid the mask onto his face, tightening the straps, to ensure that the mask was sealed on his face and that he'd be able to survive if the winds blew back the gas their way.  
Satisfied, Johannes was accompanied by the sounds of his own breathing, which dominated over the sounds of activity all over the line, as he put his Stahlhelm back on.

Then, the shriek came back. And this time, it was louder than ever before.  
Whoever they were, they were here.

Looking through the eyepieces of his mask, as he got his rifle and adjusted his position and aim towards the front, Johannes was astonished to see, well, bugs.  
Giant bugs as big as a horse or a pony, with four legs and two whip-like things acting as arms. And there were _dozens_ of them, all over the field, heading towards them.

"FIRE!"

The sound of artillery fire and Johannes knew that the order had been given to launch the attack.  
Waiting, as they heard the distinct sounds of shells in flight, heading towards their targets, he watched and waited, until the shells hit the ground and exploded, right in front of the giant bugs.

And immediately, a massive cloud of gas erupted right through the field, spreading all over the place and engulfing the bugs.

Johannes tensed, even though he could hear some soldiers cheering.

But the cheers stopped, when one bug came out of the cloud, then another and another.

One by one, a giant bug emerged through the gas cloud, seemingly unharmed.  
Then, the bugs charged, and a horde emerged, heading towards their defensive line.

The distinct voice of Feldwebel Knoth shouted, "WELL DON'T JUST STAND THERE! OPEN FIRE!"  
And immediately, machine guns, mortars and artillery (firing high explosive rounds) let rip right at the bugs. As did rifle fire.

As Johannes aimed and fired his Gewehr 98, he noticed that the artillery did kill one or two bugs, who were blown apart to bits, as did the mortar rounds that hit square on.

The MG08 machine guns, with a rate of fire of 500-600 rounds a minute, did manage to severely wound the creatures, but unfortunately were not able to kill them.  
And worse, Johannes could hear that the steady stream of machine gun fire was becoming irregular, presumably due to the machine gunners panicking, or the gun itself actually misfiring due to overheating.  
Or just simply, there was just _too many_ giant bugs.

As for the Gewehr 98, Johannes panicked as the rounds just only seemed to wound the giant bug coming right for him, and did not seem to do much fatal damage.

Firing a fourth round, which the creature just seemed to shrug off, Johannes then tried to work the bolt on the weapon, only to find that his hands were shaking so much that he was struggling to work the bolt.

A rather loud shriek and Johannes looked up, only for him to notice a long whip like tentacle going straight for his neck.  
And his world turned to black, as his head was decapitated from his body and flung off in quick succession.

Within moments, the German defensive line east of Kortenberg, east of Brussels, fell to the mass swarm of giant bugs, that were now spreading all across Belgium.

Many hours later, the Rachni went across the border, straight directly into France, directly into the Western Front.

* * *

 _Outside Villers-au-Flos_ _, France, Europe, Earth, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way Galaxy_.  
 _25th March, 1918_.

Still quite some distance away from the Ancre, the 2nd Ox and Bucks stopped dead in their tracks when they heard, a shriek piercing right through the air, far off in the distance, and despite that, it still could be heard clearly by everyone.  
Everyone in the 2nd Ox and Bucks, all heard it, snapped their heads towards it and wondered what it was.

Especially when the shrieks continued, becoming a bit much louder.

But one person amongst them in particular, a certain visitor from the stars who became their prisoner, before joining them in the withdrawal, had snapped her head over to the shrieks, knowing exactly what it was, having spent much of her maiden years fighting these exact creatures.

Dread, went right through her, at the thought of the Rachni, here on this planet.

Lieutenant Trileena Navuris whispered, "Oh no".

* * *

 **Well well well.**  
 **Now things get truly interesting here. The Rachni are now in force, and starting their assault.  
And there's no doubt that the German Spring Offensive will be halted dead in it's tracks, and both the Allies and the Central Powers will be finding themselves in a bit of a shock.  
Especially since the Rachni have now proven themselves to be immune to chemical attack, as I reckoned that since they came from Suen, a planet with a toxic atmosphere, the Rachni would be immune to the various chemical weapons used by the Allies and the Central Powers in WW1.**

 **Now, some historical notes:**

 **For their chemical shells, the Germans used yellow to mark shells with mustard gas, and green for chlorine and phosgene, and** **the Germans had less opportunities to launch gas attacks from 1917 to 1918, as winds blew from West-to-East a lot of the time, which meant the Allies had much more favourable conditions to launch gas attacks on the Germans.**

 **The German occupation of Belgium began with much of Belgium having been conquered from August to Winter 1914. The Belgian government fled into exile at Le Havre in France, while King Albert I (commanding in Veurne, West Flanders) and the Belgian Army continued fighting on with the Allies, most particularly at the Yser Front, where Belgian troops held a static front from October 1914 till 1918.**  
 **In the country itself, Belgium was divided into three administration zones, with the majority of the country being held by the formal military occupation administration run by a German governor, known simply as the General Government.**  
 **Others, much closer to the front line, were much direct, repressive, military control.**  
 **The country experienced a widespread economic collapse, along with wartime shortages and widespread unemployment, and also experienced several unpopular measures by the Germans, including forced deportation of Belgian workers to Germany and forced labour on military projects. And there was German support for the radical Flemish Movement, in order to gain support from the Flemish population of Belgium.**  
 **Then of course, during the invasion of Belgium, there were German massacres on towns where the Germans accused the populations of those, fighting as Francs-tireurs (basically guerrilla fighters), and in Leuven, the historic library of the town's university was burned down. Around 6,500 Belgian civilians were killed, and the news of these massacres became greatly exaggerated by the Allied press as 'The Rape of Belgium' and used quite frequently in Allied propaganda, creating sympathy for the Belgian population in occupied Belgium amongst the Allies.**  
 **  
The 'Wire of Death' was an electric fence/barbed wire border defense made by the Germans to prevent Belgian civilians from leaving Belgium by going to the Netherlands, which was neutral.  
Around 2,000 to 3,000 Belgians were believed to have died trying to cross into the Netherlands.**

 **Anyways, don't forget to leave a review whenever you can, and see you next time!**


	15. Cavalry vs Bugs

**Disclaimer: Mass Effect does not belong to me. It belongs to it's respective owners, namely Bioware.  
**

* * *

 _Bapaume, France, Europe, Earth, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way Galaxy_.  
 _25th March, 1918_.

Taking a chunk out of the chocolate bars that he got from one of the British supply depots that had been left behind by the British during their rout, Unteroffizier Hermann Prenzler re-slung his Gewehr 98 over his shoulder as he continued strolling around and looked upon his kameraden, who were in good spirits amongst themselves.

Not so much for Hermann, as he looked upon the ruins of Bapaume, and bitterly thought of his friends, Otto, Klaus and Dietrich who had died whilst trying to take the town.

 _Three of my friends gone. Probably more German blood spilt. And for what? A town wrecked by the constant back and forth that our esteemed Generals Ludendorff and Hindenburg just seem to be playing with the damned Tommies_?, thought Hermann disgustedly as he chewed on the chocolate.

Otto, who was known for his shit-eating grin that could make everyone's day brighten, had been struck by shrapnel from a British artillery shell that impacted his chest.

Klaus lost half of his head to a British bullet, while Dietrich had taken the full blast of a Vickers gun during the advance to the British lines.

But then, Hermann was brought out of his thoughts when a loud screech was heard, and everyone stopped what they were doing, looking around to find the source of the screeching.  
Then, it came again, and it was much louder.

Immediately, everyone started grabbing their weapons and rushing towards the South-east end of the town, where the screeching was coming from.  
Hermann spat out the chocolate in his mouth, onto the floor, before rushing to join his fellow kameraden.

Again, the screeching came again, and Hermann also heard, what appeared to be the hoofs of multiple horses.  
Initially, he thought that somehow, the British had managed to mobilise their cavalry and attack from the rear, but he realised that the thundering sounded very different from the distinctive sound of multiple horses at full gallop, their hoofs slamming into the ground.

As Hermann reached the South-east end of the town, along with his fellow kameraden, he could see rows of riflemen readying their Gewehr 98s, snipers with their scoped Gewehr 98s ready to pick off targets, while machine gunners were starting to set up their MG 08 machine guns.  
Also, Hermann could see Stoßtruppen having joined in the preparations for the defense, bringing to bear not only submachine guns, but also flamethrowers.

A slight shiver at the sight of the Flammenwerfer M.16 and the Kleinflammenwerfer, as well as the Wechselapparat, made Hermann stick himself towards rows of riflemen readying for a volley at the incoming cavalry, and put his thoughts on the use of flamethrowers against cavalry to one side as he checked over his rifle.  
Only to realise, as they saw coming over the edge of the horizon, that this wasn't British cavalry at all.

In fact, they weren't even human, or even a horse at all.  
They were a swarm of four-legged bug-like creatures, with whips for arms. And they were so fast, that one soldier fired his rifle in a panic, and soon everyone started opening fire from riflemen, to Stoßtruppen right down to the machine gunners.

Despite the officers and NCOs shouting for them to hold fire, the situation spiralled out of control, as the bugs quickly got within reach of the defensive line, and the slaughter began.  
Gunshots ran out, and it all became a haze as the slaughter became absolute chaos.

Hermann, who had fired four rounds with seemingly no effect, fired his last round at one of the eyes of the bug approaching his position.  
The bug screeched as it's right eye was destroyed, and charged recklessly at him, only for Hermann to realise that his rifle still had it's bayonet attached.

As soon as the bug got close enough, Hermann brought his rifle back, aimed for the bug's remaining eye, and put his full strength at thrusting the bayonet at the eye.  
His aim was true, and the bug screeched as it was blinded with a bayoneted rifle stick in it's eye.  
But Hermann did not have time to contemplate this success, as the bug started flaying it's whip-like arms in pain and agony, and in the process, 'slapped' Hermann in the stomach, throwing him backwards.

Hitting the ground and sliding backwards, Hermann looked around as he saw many of his kameraden being slaughtered.  
The machine gunners had been wiped out, their guns smashed and destroyed, while the riflemen and Stoßtruppen were fighting back with mixed success.  
One Stoßtruppen managed to use his stick grenade to blow the legs off one bug, while a rifleman managed to fire all five rounds of his rifle at close range and kill the bug, and a Stoßtruppen used his MP18 to riddle one bug with a full magazine of bullets.

But one soldier, with a Weshselapparat on his back, aimed the nozzle of his weapon towards 3 bugs in front of him and fire a stream of flammable liquid onto the bugs, which ignited.  
And in quick succession, the bugs all screeched loudly, in absolute pain, as the flames engulfed one bug, and burn the skins of the other four. In complete agony, the bug engulfed in flames lost all sense of rational thought, and started going on a complete frenzy, attacking anything in it's sight with reckless abandon, before Hermann got up and tried to back into the fight, looking for anything that could be of use.  
But a bug saw him and rushed up to him, before it's whip-like arm shot out and stabbed him right in the stomach.

Hermann felt an immense shot of pain that felt like a million needles piercing his stomach as he then started vomiting blood.  
Then, the bug pulled it's arm out, and let him collapse to the floor, bleeding his guts out.

As he lay down on the ground, Hermann faintly remembered moving his hands over his stomach and pressing down in order to try and stop the bleeding, but as soon as he pressed down, immense pain shot right through his body, making him stop.

And time seemed to slow down as his vision blurred in and out, before he succumbed to the depths of unconsciousness, and eventually, death.

* * *

 _Outside Villers-au-Flos, France, Europe, Earth, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way Galaxy_.  
 _25th March, 1918_.

Immediately, Trileena shouted at everyone to run, to no avail as the soldiers and officers stood where they were, looking at her in confusion and bewilderment.

But another shriek prompted them into action, only this time, the officers had the presence of mind to stop the men in their tracks.  
"Hold your ground, there will not be any falling back! Anyone who does will be shot!"

As Trileena tried to get the soldiers to get out as fast as they could again, one officer came up to her in an overbearing manner, with stern and outraged face, shouting, "Who do you think you are, presuming to give me and my men orders?!"  
"Sir, your men are in complete danger. You need to get them out of here and retreat!"  
"Retreat?! We'll not fall back against the Hun!"  
"But sir, this isn't your enemy..."

Fed up, the officer then turned his head away from her, looked at a soldier with three stripes on his uniform, and ordered,  
"Sergeant, get this... thing, out of my sight. A battle is no place for a woman, even one so strange as this one".

But before the Sergeant could do so, another soldier then shouted and pointed out to the East.  
"Leftenant! Over there!"

Heads turning to where the soldier pointed, and everyone looked on as they saw multiple four-legged, bugs the size of horses, approaching them at a rapid pace.

Every soldier, shocked at their appearance, froze, before the officers regained their senses and ordered for them to take positions and return fire.  
Immediately, soldiers rushed into a firing line, their Lee-Enfields at the ready, whilst Lewis guns were set up, as were the Vickers machine guns (the tripods set on the ground in good positions where an wide-field of fire could be managed, then the weapon linked up to the tripod, before an ammunition belt full of .303 rounds was fed into the weapon, then water poured into the evaporative cooling system around the barrel to ensure that the weapon's barrel would not overheat and finally, the weapon was primed and all set, ready to fire).

However, Trileena was determined to try and get the soldiers out of here as fast as they could, by shouting out loud at the nearest officer, "Get your men out of there, quick!"

Ignoring her, the officer shouted to his men, "All troops, open fire!"

And before the officer even finished his sentence, everyone let rip at the bugs.

Initially, the bugs shrugged off a few hits from the Lee Enfield's .303 round, or moved about in such a matter to make soldiers start to miss hitting them, but when one soldier consistently laid some hits on one particular Rachni Soldier with around 5 rounds, the bug actually started to feel the damage inflicted by the rounds.

The soldier managed to continue on, noticing this, until he reached the ninth round, which made the Rachni scream in pain, more so than it had been before.  
And soon, the Rachni charged straight at the soldier with reckless abandon, only for the soldier to finish working the bolt, aiming and firing his tenth round, which landed a direct hit to a vital organ on the Rachni, one of it's four lungs.  
With this direct hit, the Rachni Soldier fell to the ground dead.

But as the soldier instinctively went to reload his weapon, he only heard the sound of a screech, and he turned his head to the right, only for his head to be decapitated from his body in an instant.

Everywhere, Trileena watched as soldiers died around her.  
The light machine gunners, with their Lewis guns did make some progress in killing the bugs, but when one bug died, another took it's place and soon, when the Lewis guns ran out of ammunition, the bugs took advantage.  
Even though the Vickers machine guns were killing more bugs than the Lee Enfields and the Lewis guns, they were more vulnerable to the fact that their barrels required cooling down via the water jacket and that they were in, somewhat fixed positions, the tripod being quite heavy to move around in such a situation.

With these humans soldiers dying around her, Trileena felt that she could not just stand by and do nothing, so when one machine gun crew was in danger from a bug that was fast approaching them, Trileena rushed in, biotics glowing.

Knocking a Rachni back, the machine gun crew looked on at her, in total amazement, until she shouted at them to move.

Shaken from their shock by the forcefulness of her command, they left their gun and retreated.

Trileena moved on to see who else needed up, but found that a Rachni was fast approaching her.  
Her biotics glowed, only for her to be suddenly thrown backwards from the force of the Rachni warrior suddenly exploding in a gooey mess.

Landing on her back a few feet away, Trileena groaned as she slowly got up, and saw her 'saviour', one of the 'tanks' moving up, the barrel of it's starboard cannon still smoking from the aftereffect of firing.

* * *

Clinging onto the 6-pounder, as the _Grouchy Gremlin_ traversed over the French fields quite roughly, Corporal Terence Wynne struggled to keep his balance within the confides of the tank as it advanced up to support the Ox and Bucks, who were under attack from something new.

The Grouchy Gremlin stopped, and Terence had gotten the turret zeroed in on one of the bugs, which was approaching a strange person not in khaki, and fired.  
The result had meant that there was nothing left of the bug, it's flesh and innards being splattered all over the place, even on the other bugs.

The tank commander, 2nd Lieutenant Leonard Collins, "Good shot, Wynne. Now, let's get in and help out our lads".

As the driver, Lance Corporal Delbert Mullen, moved the tank forward and began manoeuvring the sudden battleground that this plain field had become, he couldn't help but ask upon seeing the bugs through the front view of the tank, "Say, what the hell did Fritz come up with this time?"  
Lance Corporal Morris Hume, the loader of the starboard 6-pounder and the starboard Lewis gunner, shouted over the racket, "I don't know. This doesn't seem like the work of the Hun to me".  
But then, before the men of the Grouchy Gremlin could start theorising on what they were dealing with, Collins cut right in and stopped the impeding debate before it began, "Alright, lads, enough chit-chat. Driver, keep your eyes on the ground ahead. Gunners, keep your heads on a swivel".

Even though the engine was noisy, which made communication rather difficult within the confines of the tank, they could still hear that piercing screech, that sent shivers down the skin of the entire crew.

Then, as the tank continued onwards towards this new threat, Collins ordered, "Driver, slow ahead. Gunners, let's give our lads a bit of help".

And the two 6-pounders and three Lewis guns, started scanning the area, only seeing a whole lot of bugs.  
But then, Corporal Herbert Rivers, the port 6-pounder gunner, and Lance Corporal Charles Toner, loader and port Lewis gunner, spotted one bug on an approach towards their tank.

"Got a target! Fast approaching!"  
And as the bug got even closer and closer, Toner unleashed a volley of rounds from his Lewis gun, which due to the distance, managed to dump all it's rounds into the bug, killing it.

But Rivers, who was moving the 6-pounder around to find a target, found that another bug was right behind the recently fallen bug, and this bug charged right at the tank.  
With no time, Rivers swung the barrel of the 6-pounder at the bug, and without a hesitation, Rivers pulled the trigger.

Terence also was keeping an eye out, and found one bug on his side of the tank coming closer.  
And, immediately, with no time to waste, Terence swung the 6-pounder over to one bug which then charged right at the tank, and shouted "FIRE!", before pulling the trigger.

An 6-pounder shell expelled right out of his cannon, landing a square hit on one of the bugs and sending bug guts and bits everywhere.  
But as the _Grouchy Gremlin_ was about to seemingly make a difference and help the infantry lads out, Terence noticed that there were a lot more bugs starting to swarm in on the tank.

And Terence had lost count at how many there were closing in.

Attempting to get one shot off, he spotted one bug rushing towards his 6-pounder, but before he could pull the trigger, the bug slammed right into the sponson, the impact causing him and the crew to be thrown back towards the floor, as more bugs now closed in on the tank.

Despite the pain of being thrown backwards, onto the hard metal floor of the tank, Terence slowly managed to get himself up, noticing that there were an increasing amount of dents being made along the side of the tank, before turning to Morris Hume, who was still on the ground, and extending a hand.

Hume grasped Terence's hand, accepting the offer to help himself up.  
And once Hume got back on his feet, Terence said loudly, "Morris, those things out there, it's too close for the 6-pounder, get to the Lewis and..."

Then suddenly, everyone was thrown back down to the ground as he felt the tank moving.  
Backwards.  
Despite the fact that the driver had gotten back into the driving position and had the tank moving it's tracks forward, and the fact that the tank itself weighed in at around 29 tonnes.

Someone in the tank shouted over the noise of the engine and the shrieks, "Whoa, whoa, whoa! They're pushing the tank!", and before anyone could react, they could see much more deeper dents throughout the entire tank.  
And in Terence's case, one of the bugs managed to break an opening into the tank, at the right sponson, and it's tentacle started flaying about.  
Getting back up and backing away from his 6-pounder, Terence found that his right hand was reaching for his Webley revolver.  
But before he could grasp the pistol grip and pull the weapon out of it's holster, Hume moved past him to get to the Lewis gun, hoping to open fire at a bug that was surely, very close to the tank.  
But the tentacle soon slashed across Hume's throat, and as he dropped to the floor, blood started spurting out all over the interior.

Looking around, more of the bugs were starting to penetrate the metal with their tentacles, which were flaying around, striking at any place they could find.

Terence meanwhile, got out his Webley revolver and aimed right at the 'tentacle' flaying around in front of him, before firing.

Of course, the chances of him hitting it was quite low, so he missed the first four shots, the .455 Webley rounds hitting the metal of the tank instead, causing ricochets that struck him in his legs.

Falling down, Terence groaned in pain, and let go of his revolver to put his hands on where the ricocheting rounds hit his legs, as they were now bleeding and he needed to put pressure on them to stem the bleeding.

But then, over the sounds of gunfire and the screams of his fellow crewmen, one shout made Terence completely forget about his wounds.

"The fuel lines!"

Immediately, Terence snapped his head over to where the fuel lines were, and saw that a tentacle has slashed it, and it was causing the fuel to leak uncontrollably.  
But not only that, he could see that the air was hazy, which meant that gas was leaking.

Then Terence noticed Mullen, getting out his Enfield No. 2 revolver and aiming it towards the door, and also noticed the leaking fuel lines, which was also expelling flammable gas that could light up as a result of a spark.  
Eyes widening, Terence shouted, "NOOOOOOO!"

But his shout was all for naught as Mullen pulled the trigger, and Terence's world was filled with a whoosh of fire that filled his eyes and lungs, and began burning his skin.

* * *

Trileena, some distance away, watched as the mass of Rachni all over the tank, were suddenly caught in a sudden whoosh of fire that erupted from within the tank.

And soon, the Rachni were screeching in pain as the flames burned their bodies, and some of the bugs attempted to extinguish the fires, to no avail.  
Not only that, but she could also hear the pain-filled screams of the crew burning to death within.

Everywhere she looked, these humans, were being swamped and slaughtered by the Rachni, despite their valiant efforts to stand their ground.

Hope did arise, when another tank, this one different from the others that she had saw, drove across the ground, much faster than the other ones, and opened fired with it's machine guns.  
One Rachni fell, as did another, and another, but off course, there were plenty more Rachni and soon, those Rachni swarmed the lone tank, taking away the brief relief of hope that these humans had.

But then, as she stood in place, watching the slaughter, some loud screeching made her snap her head over to a set of bugs that were coming towards her.

Immediately, Trileena bolted and ran.

As she ran, the bugs picked up their pace and continued their pursuit, even though Trileena occasionally launched a biotic attack or fired her weapon at them.  
But this did little to stop them, and after a while, for she had lost track of how much time went on, Trileena suddenly felt exhaustion throughout her body, and fell to her knees, exhausted.

The bugs were closing in, screeching, rushing towards her, and Trileena closed her eyes, about to embrace her fate, until she could hear, over the Rachni screeching, distant pummelling on the ground that was rapidly approaching.

* * *

 _Approaching Villers-au-Flos, France, Europe, Earth, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way Galaxy_.  
 _25th March, 1918_.

Galloping on a steady pace, the 11th Hussars (Prince Albert's Own) were on their way to Villers-au-Flos, having finished up with clearing out German troops in Hamel, when they heard screeching that sent some of their horses into a panic (requiring a bit of effort from the soldiers to get their horses back in control).

Lieutenant William Badley had heard the screeching, which was then followed by screaming and gunfire, and once they got within sight, the entire 11th Hussars stopped.

A short bit of conferring amongst the senior officers later and A Squadron was called to move up to investigate, whilst the rest of the squadrons would hang back.

The Squadron Commander, Major George Pigott, the Squadron Sergeant Major Reginald Dowell, and a couple of officers and other ranks, formed a small party that went ahead towards the horizon, which would get them within sight of Villers-au-Flos.

Stopping in place, they whipped out binoculars and saw what was going on, and soon enough, William could hear his Squadron Commander, Major George Pigott, ask the Squadron Sergeant Major, "What, in god's name, are those, Sergeant Major!?  
SSM Reginald Dowell, responded quite simply, "I haven't the foggiest idea, sir".

And while Major Pigott and SSM Dowell corresponded with one another over the threat in front of them, William's dark chestnut horse, Challenger, started to shuffle about uneasy, as his ears caught the screams and screeching.

Having not took immediate action to calm down his horse, William then started to calm Challenger down with instinctive ease by patting the side of his neck and rubbing the top of his head.  
"Easy, boy. Easy there, Challenger. Easy".

As his horse settled down, William took a glance over to Major Pigott, whose face was looking straight ahead in the direction of Villers-au-Flos with stony resolve.  
Then, the Major called for a messenger, a Lance Corporal Stanton, telling him to tell the rest of the regiment that the nature of the threat was unlike anything they'd seen before, and that they were to bring it's squadrons up in readiness, while he prepared to charge.

Once the Lance Corporal bolted on his horse with his message to the rest of the regiment, the Major then took another look at the town, and frowned as the shouts and screams became louder.  
He then said to SSM Dowell, "Sergeant Major, get the Squadron ready to charge!"  
"Yes sir".

And SSM Dowell had the squadron organise itself by four troops, one in a line behind the other.

William's troop, was right behind the Major's line, the foremost one that'd see the first action.

Once the SSM told the Major that the Squadron was formed as ordered, and Lance Corporal Stanton returned with a message that the rest of the regiment had received his message, Pigott was satisfied, and had his rose grey horse walk forward.  
Upon seeing the Major wave his hand out slowly, the rest of the Squadron followed on, towards the screams and the screeching at Villers-au-Flos.

William tensed up, as he prepared for the Major to give the signal to go at full gallop.  
Then, before they crossed the horizon, Pigott's horse started picking up speed, up to a slow pace, before the Major then shouted, "DRAW! SWORDS!"  
Everyone, William included, whipped out their swords from their scabbards, before another shout came, "GIVE! POINT!"  
This meant that everyone now had the tips of their swords pointing forward.

And then, finally, as they all crossed the horizon, Major Pigott screamed at the top of his lungs, "CHARGE!"

Immediately, Major Pigott's horse went at full speed, and the rest of the squadron followed on.

As Challenger increased speed, leaving behind the rest of his troop to catch up with the Major, William found that he was standing up in his stirrups, and was using his left hand to hold the reins, all while using the stirrups and the reins to urge Challenger to go at full gallop towards the enemy.

Then, as they all charged across the horizon and got within sight of the town, William's thoughts seemed to be drowned by the sounds of hooves furiously pounding the ground, along with his fellow officers and troopers from A Squadron of the 11th (Prince Albert's Own) Hussars yelling at the top of their voices.  
Upon seeing the town, William could see, on the outskirts of the town, British troops being attacked by what seemed to be giant bugs with large tentacles.

Seeing exactly where the threat was, the Major had his horse turn slightly towards the right, and the rest of the squadron followed suite.

And some of these bugs, stopped what they were doing, and turned to face the oncoming charge of men on horses, and shrieked in their direction, before heading off to face this new threat.

Then, once the Squadron had closed the distance and got within contact of this new threat, William could see that things were going wrong.

One bug had noticed the approach of a Trooper and his horse charging towards it, and slashed it's tentacles at him once he got closer, piercing right through his body and throwing him off his saddle, causing his horse to be spooked like mad and now running amok.  
Another trooper had his throat slashed, and he fell to one side, only for his foot to be entangled by the right stirrup, and thus his body was dragged by the now unsaddled horse.  
And one bug slashed with it's tentacles towards one Sergeant's horse, impacting right at the horse's throat, causing blood to spurt right out in multiple directions, before collapsing to the ground, leaving the Sergeant an easy target for the bugs.  
Needless to say, the men of A Squadron were on the receiving end of the bug's retaliation, being impaled or beheaded, as were their horses themselves.  
Others found that their horses were quite unused to these bugs, and were so spooked, that their riders lost control of them.

When Major George Pigott, who had survived the contact, manoeuvred his horse around to go for a charge against a bug, it noticed his approach and turned around to open it's mouth, shooting a ball of yellowish-green acid, which upon contact with both the Major and his horse, burned right through the cloth, leather and skin, causing a rather agonising death.

Everywhere, the Squadron was being slaughtered.  
Not that the Squadron didn't manage to kill any bugs of their own, because they did.  
Some men did manage to close in on the bugs with their horses and plunge their swords right through what passed for eyes for these creatures, effectively killing them.  
Other bugs were killed when some horses were going too fast to stop and collided with them, causing an almighty crash that threw the riders of their horses, but overall, pinning the bugs down with the horses' corpses and allowing the horses' dismounted riders to close in with their swords and stick them into the bugs, killing them.

William meanwhile, had survived the initial encounter, as had other men and their horses, and tried for another charge, only for one bug to swing it's tentacles right at him with the intent to kill.  
Instinctively, he swung his Pattern 1912 Cavalry Officer's Sword, cutting right through it.  
Surprised with himself, William continued on, and it all became a haze, as William manoeuvred Challenger around, swinging his sword around left and right. And narrowly missing shots of acid.

But one bug in front advanced quickly towards them both, causing Challenger to whinny and suddenly rear up in a panic, and thus, causing William to fall from his saddle onto the ground.  
And soon enough, Challenger was killed by a shot of acid from a bug, and William's steed fell down on his left leg, pinning him down.

Trying to wiggle out, William found that he couldn't move out from the carcass of his steed, and thus was effectively helpless.  
Even more so, when the bug that had killed his horse, took notice of him and was closing in to make him it's next kill.

Tentacles raised and William fumbled around to get out his Webley revolver from his holster.

But as his hand got the pistol grip and before he could unsheathe the revolver, aim and fire it in a defiant last stand, a wave of blue energy hit the bug, pushing it right back.

And his saviour appeared in view.  
To his utter surprise and amazement, he saw what seemed to be a woman.  
A woman, wearing a strange dark brown skintight suit and a helmet that covered her head and face, with a strange weapon slung across her back.

But, what was more amazing, was that her body, from head to toe, seemed to be glowing with a blue aura, for lack of a better word.

Throwing her arms forward, the bug that had recovered, was pushed back again, before she got the weapon off her back, and fired it at the bug, killing it.

Turning around, the woman came around to him and put both hands to her helmet, pulling it off to reveal her face.

Despite William's shock, to the very fact that her face was blue and in the place of hair, were oddly shaped tentacles on her head, he could see a face of an angel on this woman's face.

And her voice was like an angel's as well.

"Are you alright"?

* * *

 **Whew!  
Man, I was really having trouble trying to finish this!**

 **Apologies for the long delay everyone, but I was having trouble with the depiction of the battle, even with the cavalry charge against the Rachni, which I really looked forward to writing down, as well as the first meeting between Trileena and William, which will continue next chapter.**

 **Anyways, don't forget to leave a review whenever you can, and see you next time!**

 **Update (16/11/18): Had to change up and add more detail to the cavalry charge.  
**


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